


every you, every me.

by babblekween



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: ARGUS Felicity, Alternate Universe, Birds of Prey, F/F, F/M, Felicity-centric, Gen, Multiverse, Noah's on The List, Team Flash Felicity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 08:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10716033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babblekween/pseuds/babblekween
Summary: Four lives Felicity Smoak did not have.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatmasquedgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatmasquedgirl/gifts).



> Masque told me to write all the things. So, instead of committing to another multi-chapter au that will be updated once every blue moon because I _so totally_ suck, I present you with snippets of what lives Felicity Smoak _could_ have had. But of course this exploded when I edited it and I decided (with help from the truly wonderful Masque) to break each life up into it's own chapter. But it's all written and you won't have to wait forever and a day for the next chapter.

_i._

Felicity Smoak graduates from MIT with a Masters in both Cyber Security _and_ Computer Sciences.

It’d be impressive at any age, she knows, but she’s always been an overachiever and does it at twenty.

Donna's there, wearing a too-tight beaded cocktail dress and too-high red heels that perfectly match her painted lips, and she splits her time between squealing over her daughter's newly dyed blonde hair and taking pictures of her _beautiful baby girl._ Her mother is still totally ridiculous, and Felicity's still 83% convinced she's adopted, but she doesn't have to fake her smile when she has her diploma in her hand and Donna's taking her picture.

Laughter bubbles past Felicity's fuchsia-painted lips, and a rush of excitement fills her because she can leave behind MIT.

It's time for her to reinvent herself, _again_ , only this time, instead of as rebellious brunette hacker, it'll be as a blonde IT-expert.

It's time for her to leave behind the whispers and heartache and memories of Cooper, and explore the world beyond her books and lectures.

Felicity's a genius, literally, the _real_ literally not the literally where people actually mean _figuratively_ , and she's headhunted by some of the most powerful companies in the world. She receives offers from Kord Industries, Wayne Enterprises, Queen Consolidated, Stellmoor International, as well as Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories. Or, as it's more commonly referred, STAR Labs.

Donna wants her to take the offer from Kord Industries because, while they have subsidiaries all over the country, their main office is in Nevada, which will bring her closer to home. Which is exactly why Felicity turns it down. She loves her mother, she _does_ , she _totally_ does, but that doesn't mean she can live within driving distance of Donna.

Wayne Enterprises nearly wins her over because they develop some of the best tech and their Applied Sciences division is like Candy-land, but Felicity's running, trying to outrun her mistakes and memories of Cooper, and she remembers the road trip they took to Gotham City the summer before he died.

Walter Steele, the CEO of Queen Consolidated, is nice to her, but the only position currently available at the company is an entry level IT-position. "I'm sorry, Mr. Steele," Felicity says when she turns down his offer, and she _is_ , because she _likes_ Walter, but she went to MIT and she's worked very hard to get where she is and it wasn't for her to be some nameless IT-Girl.

Stellmoor International gives her the heebie jeebies.

She interviews for the position at STAR Labs.

Felicity fiddles with her rings and picks at her freshly painted nails the entire time she's waiting. Her entire outfit is quirky yet professional (pale pink nails that match her printed blouse, a patterned a-line skirt that hits her knees, and a pair of aqua pumps that make her feel powerful and badass) but she can't help but wonder for the millionth time since she arrived if, maybe, she should have gone with a neutral or classic-red lipstick instead of the bright pink she opted for. _"Felicity, baby,"_ Donna Smoak always says, _"There's nothing classier than a red lip."_

Maybe she should have—

"Welcome, Ms. Smoak."

Felicity's head snaps up at the sound of her name, only for her eyes to widen comically, because _Mother of Google_. "Doctor Wells," She rasps because he's been an idol of hers for years because his work is world-changing and years ahead of everyone else and she's 83% sure right now she's fangirling. " _Thee_ Doctor Wells," Felicity adds, dizzy with the sight of him, barely resisting the urge to pinch herself because she hadn't expected him to be present for her interview.

Amusement flickers across his face as he moves further into the room, "Please, call me Harrison, Felicity."

"Oh," She practically squeaks as she climbs to her feet, smoothing a hand over her skirt before she looks at him, pushing her glasses further up her nose because she's been wearing contacts since she was fifteen and she's still not used to the added weight on her face. "You know who I am," Felicity blinks. "I mean, of course you know who I am, you read my resume, at least, I _assume_ it was you that read my resume and not one of your minions. Not that I think your employees are minions, obviously, because that makes you sound like a super-villain, which you are _not_ , and I am going to stop talking in 3...2...1."

"Felicity Smoak," Harrison Wells continues as if she hadn't spoken, which she's incredibly thankful for, but she doesn't think she's imagining the amused look on his face. "You ranked second in the National Informative Technology Competition last year at 19 and you graduated _summa cum laude_ from MIT with a Masters in Cyber Security and Computer sciences." Felicity's practically beaming under his praise as he continues, stuffing his hands into his pant pockets. "I keep an eye out for promising talent in scientific fields and I believe we will be seeing great things from you... Whether you choose to accept my offer, or choose to work elsewhere."

Felicity stares at him for a moment too long and then she's closing the distance between the two of them, her brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't want to read too much into this, but I'm pretty sure you just said everything _I'm_ supposed to say to convince you to hire me." Her confusion is obvious and her heart pounds in her chest but she wants this _so bad_ that she's not above begging. "Why does it sound like _you_ are trying to convince _me_?"

"Because I _am_ , Ms. Smoak," Harrison Wells says before he gestures for her to follow him into his office, "I have been looking to expand our department in research and technology. We live in a technological age and I want STAR Labs to, not only acquire the best software, but _develop_ them." He pauses to take off his glasses, cleaning them before he puts them back on, and then he smiles at Felicity. "So, I guess my only question is, will you help me?"

Felicity blinks, stares at him for a moment, then nods her head. "Yes," She beams, eyes bright. "Yes, of course."

It takes time, but STAR Labs becomes her home, and she builds herself a family. It starts when she meets Ronnie Raymond. He's handsome and smart and they bond over a mutual love of food and wine. When the two of them clock out for lunch, he always insists on pizza, but she always counters with Big Belly Burger. Ronnie is _probably_ the best friend she's ever had and it never fails to amuse her when he gets into a debate with Caitlin Snow, another one of their coworkers, because it's the most obvious case of playground-love she's ever seen.

After Ronnie and Caitlin, the next piece of her heart goes to Cisco Ramon, who always understands her pop culture references.

Before long, Felicity has a family of her own making, and the ache in her heat where Noah, where _Cooper_ , used to be doesn't seem so vast.

She still feels the loss of Noah in her life, but in Harrison she finds a father figure, one with the most impressive poker face she's ever seen, which is impressive because she grew up in Las Vegas. She finds friends that she loves like the siblings she never had in Ronnie and Caitlin and Cisco. (Cisco always jokes that Hartley is the annoying cousin that no one likes). And Felicity still misses Cooper, of course she does; she loved him, she _mourned_ him, but she's been thinking about putting herself out there again. Ronnie has a cousin that he thinks is _perfectly perfect_ for her.

But Felicity never gets around to getting drinks with Eddie Raymond, she never finds the time.

Caitlin and Ronnie get engaged, Hartley leaves, and STAR Labs launches the Particle Accelerator.

For five minutes, Harrison Wells' dream comes to fruition, and Felicity's there, standing proudly beside her family when it happens. "Tonight," Harrison says, smile aimed at the gathered crowd, "Tonight the future begins. The work that my team and I will do here will change our understanding of physics, will bring about advancement in medicine, and trust me, the future will be here faster than you think. Thank you."

Felicity, wearing sky-high platform sandals and an ice-blue dress that cost more than her last paycheck, beams from where she's stood off to the side with Ronnie, because this moment belongs to Harrison, to Caitlin and Cisco, and her heels click-clack against the marble floor as they make their way to the lab where they will watch the beginning of the future once the Particle Accelerator goes online.

"Doctor Wells," Cisco says as he walks up to Harrison, one of the tablets she designed in his hands, "We just got the latest weather report. There's a big thunderstorm rolling in."

Felicity's mouth curves into an amused smile as she moves to stand beside Harrison. "Then it's a good thing we're not launching a space shuttle," She winks at Cisco.

"Quite so, Ms. Smoak," Harrison nods with a smile etched into his normally stoic face, leaning against the railing in the lab before he looks at Cisco, "We'll be fine, Cisco."

Cisco flashes them a smile before he scurries off, his happiness to the point that his eyes are actually freaking _twinkling_ , and Felicity turns her attention to Harrison. "So, Doc," Felicity asks, "How does it feel to be a genius?"

"Assuming that the last _fourteen_ years of my life weren't for nothing," Harrison drawls as he leans against the rail, a glass of celebratory scotch in his hand, "And the Particle Accelerator actually works?"

"Yes, _assuming_ ," Felicity teases with a wry twist of her lips, leaning next to him, her smile widening when she hears Caitlin and Ronnie's argument from across the lab. It's been over a year since the two of them realized they were perfect for each other in an opposites-attract kind of way ( _we're like fire and ice_ , Ronnie always says) and the two have been arguing over possible honeymoon destinations for nearly three weeks now.

"Tahiti?" Ronnie asks, staring at the pamphlets in his hands, his head cocked to one side.

"I know it's a long flight, Ronnie," Caitlin beams, "But we can binge watch _Orange is the New Black._ "

"But what about Italy?" Ronnie counters for the sake of argument because he's never said no to Caitlin, "Pizza and wine and _more_ pizza."

"Yes," Caitlin's eyes are bright with happiness as she steps closer to Ronnie, "But Italy doesn't have Mai Tais, and a honeymoon isn't a honeymoon without Mai Tais."

Felicity shakes her head in amusement. "Everyone's so happy," She notes and it's a welcome change because the prospect of a successful launch seems to be acting as a balm for the stress everyone has been under for the past month, stress that only doubled when the protestors set up shop outside STAR Labs. "I can't even imagine how you must be feeling," Felicity adds as she look back at Harrison, and then she leans to bump his arm with her shoulder. "Seriously, this has been your dream for _years_. You must be ecstatic. _Beyond_."

A brief smile flickers across Harrison's face before he pulls of his glasses and fiddles with them, and then he puts them back on. "Honestly," He says, almost in a sigh, "Words cannot _describe_ the level of accomplishment I feel. It's been a long road and I feel like I should say something profound like _one small step for man_ , but all I can think to say is, I feel like I've waited for this day for _years_." Five more minutes and he'll have finally achieved his goal of the past fourteen years; five more minutes and he'll be that much closer to going _home_.

"Doctor Wells," a voice calls, "The accelerator is primed and ready for particle injection."

The Particle Accelerator works _beautifully_ and, for five minutes, they've achieved everything they worked so hard for but then an anomaly in the core chamber starts a chain reaction and within minutes the system is collapsing. It could have ended in tragedy for Central City, but it didn't, it only ended in tragedy for Felicity's family, because Ronnie _—_ brave, _stupid_ Ronnie—died after he ran into the Particle Accelerator to shut it down manually. _"I'm the lead engineer,"_ Ronnie argues when they tell him it's too dangerous, _"I know how to operate the shutdown valve."_

Ronnie dies, Harrison will never walk again, and employees flees the sinking ship that is STAR Labs.

Felicity's at home wearing pajama shorts and her panda slippers, processing her way through a pint of mint chip, when Harrison calls her, says he'll understand if she leaves too. "I don't carry the weight I once did, and there's a chance it will limit your prospects more than anything else," Harrison adds. "But, if you want me to, I will write you a recommendation. Any company would be lucky to have you. Your presence at STAR Labs has truly been a privilege, Ms. Smoak _—"_

"I'm going to stop you there," Felicity interrupts. "I'm not going anywhere, Doctor Wells. If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving."

Felicity doesn't leave, neither do Cisco or Caitlin, instead they choose to stand beside Harrison Wells. In the weeks that follow their failed launch of the Particle Accelerator, it becomes increasingly obvious that they succeeded in changing the world, though not in the ways they intended. The news constantly talks about the unexplained deaths and reports of missing persons and tallies of people brought to hospital with injuries, all the while condemning Harrison Wells, but none of them bat an eyelash when Doctor Wells announces that a Barry Allen will be brought to STAR Labs.

"He was struck by lightning the night of the incident, and he's in a coma." Harrison explains, not that he needs to explain himself to them, he's still their boss and he's never had to explain his decisions in the past, but they understand without being told that he's looking for redemption. "The doctors at the hospital don't understand, they can't _help_ him, but we can."

When they aren't running tests, Felicity spends a lot of time sitting with Barry, babbling about the latest article in a science journal or the current debate she's having with Cisco. "Cisco— I think you'd like him, everyone likes Cisco —thinks that the Empire is superior to Starfleet." Felicity babbles one day, her bare feet curled beneath her, her pink pumps abandoned on the floor while her fingers dance across her tablet. "He argues that the Empire's increased numbers means that they would win, which is ridiculous, because, while their forces aren't as vast, Starfleet is technologically superior and has cooler looking ships. I mean, _The Enterprise_ is a thing of beauty, whereas _The Millenium Falcon_ looks like something put together in scrapyard."

"I thought Barry was the last of a dying breed, but you clearly come from the same rare species of adorable nerds." Iris West (who is apparently Barry's best friend and kind-of sister) says from the doorway with a bright smile before she walks into the room, carefully sitting on Barry's bed, taking his hand into hers. "Is there any change in his condition?" She asks.

"No. He's still sleeping," Felicity says regretfully, shrugging when Iris arches an eyebrow. "I prefer sleeping to coma 'cause coma sounds, you know, _not fun_."

After they bring Barry to STAR Labs, whispers begin to flood the internet of people seeing extraordinary, impossible things; things like people being attacked by  _something_ in the sewers, things like a person being able to control the weather or the actions of others, and there's even reports of a real-life Human Torch down by the bridge. 

 _"Metahumans,"_ Caitlin calls them. _"It's almost as if the dark matter from the Particle Accelerator somehow mutated their DNA."_

 _"People don't just have abilities,"_ Felicity argues because it's unthinkable. _"This isn't a comic book, this is real-life. I mean, it's impossible... isn't it?"_

 _"In the words of Mr. Spock,"_ Cisco interjects, nodding sagely. _"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."_

Felicity learns to believe in the impossible two weeks later when, while in the STAR Labs facility in Starling City, they're attacked by a super-solider that looks like a villain out of the comics she used to read at the casino bar when she went to work with Donna. He's obviously searching for something and sees them as nothing but an obstacle in his path. He kills the security guards but, before he can kill them, Starling City's vigilantes show up to save them, but the super-villain manages to escape.

"Are you hurt?" The Arrow asks, voice modified, sounding unnaturally deep.

Felicity blinks, staring at the Arrow. "I always thought archery looked utterly ridiculous."

The woman in black breaks out into a wide smile, checks Felicity out, and says, "You're cute."

An experimental drug from World War II made the super-villain into what he is, turning him into a knock-off version of Red Skull, but the Arrow gives them a sample of his nemesis' blood — people are apparently calling him _Deathstroke —_ and Caitlin uses it to develop a cure for Team Arrow. It gives her something to focus on, something other than her grief, and it's the most she's seemed like herself since she lost Ronnie.

Felicity, however, brushes off the whole ordeal and goes back to Central City, to STAR Labs, to resume her normal life because she has no intention of getting involved with masks and super-villains and evil serums from the 1940s. But then, nine months after the failed launch of the Particle Accelerator, Barry Allen wakes up from his coma and, within thirty-six hours of waking up, decides he wants to become a superhero.

" _You're_ responsible for this," Barry snarls at Harrison when he finds out about the meta-humans, "We have to stop them before they can hurt anyone else."

Barry inspires them to become more than they are, inspires them to become _heroes_ , and Felicity spends her days and nights as a constant voice in Barry's ear while she hacks various databases and federal agencies as a proud member of Team Flash. It takes them a couple of months to find their groove, but they do, they become a well-oiled crime fighting machine and then Team Arrow comes to Central City for help, because _apparently_ Barry is friends with the Arrow.

"Cool," Cisco announces, mouth curved into a wide smile, "You know who the Arrow is."

Oliver Queen, it turns out, is the Arrow. He arrives at STAR Labs with his team — a man with arms the size of tree trunks, a blonde woman that looks like she could kill her with just her pinky finger, and a smart-mouthed kid that looks like a model for Abercrombie — because they're appaerntly trying to solve a murder where the murderer used a boomerang to kill the victim, which is _awesome_ , but also terrible, and they're in Central City on a long shot because they found traces of iron oxide on the boomerang they recovered and Central City has the highest concentration of iron oxide in the country.

"Interesting," Caitlin says as she accepts the evidence bag from Sara— she was the woman in black last May, the one that called Felicity cute, but apparently she's more of an honorary member than anything else since she went back to her 'hot assassin girlfriend' and she's called the Canary— and walks into the lab, ignoring the grabby hands Cisco's making because he wants to run tests and he wants to run them _right now_. "Did you know Australian aboriginals used boomerangs to hunt? Mostly on kangaroo, which is a surprisingly low-fat source of protein—"

"Caitlin, I'm going to have to stop you there." Felicity shudders, face twisted in disgust as she walks into the lab, her black-leather pumps clicking against the floor. "I'm sure it's fascinating, and I really mean that, I always find your random facts fascinating, but I have this thing about kangaroos. More of a phobia, really. It's a long story, but I just think they look evil... Huh, I guess it's not that long."

Sara breaks out into a wide smile, her blue eyes twinkling when she says, "You're still cute."

Felicity's cheeks flush pink, much to Sara's amusement, and then Barry introduces her to Team Arrow, "Guys, this is Felicity Smoak."

"Nice to meet you," Oliver nods, something akin to politeness in his voice. "These are my partners: John Diggle and Roy Harper, and our friend Sara Lance. I'm Oliver Queen."

Felicity purses her lips. "Of course. I know who you are," Felicity says, laughing a little breathlessly before she throws a hand up in a _'duh'_ fashion, "You're Mr. Queen."

"No," Oliver corrects, his voice tinged with amusement, but there's also steel in his tone that just _screams_ daddy issues even before he adds,  "Mr. Queen was my father."

"Right, but, he's dead." Felicity babbles, and then her eyes widen because _Mother of Google_. "I mean, he drowned." Well, _that_ was better. "But _you_ didn't. Which means you could come here, to STAR Labs, and listen to me babble." Oliver's staring at her, but there's a slight crinkling around his eyes now, almost like he's fighting a smile, and it makes him look even more devastatingly attractive, which she didn't think was possible. "Which will end," She continues, "In 3...2..1."

"You're _definitely_ still cute," Sara says, but, based on his smile, Felicity thinks Oliver's in agreement with the Canary.


	2. Chapter 2

_ii._

Felicity reinvents herself after Cooper, much like she had when she left Las Vegas.

She starts to wear her glasses again, for the first time since she was fifteen, and she's constantly readjusting them and pushing them up her nose because she's no longer used to the weight of them on her face. Her black nail polish is replaced by a bright rainbow of colors, and her signature purple lipstick is traded for the brightest shade of pink she can find. Practical heels replace her comfortable combat boots, and she hangs her beloved leather jacket in her closet, opting instead to wear bright blouses and short skirts.

Perhaps most surprisingly, Felicity strips the purple from her hair and, instead of returning to her natural color of darkest brown, she dyes her hair bright blonde. 

She's in her bathroom, black mesh top dangling from her hands, her eyes wide in shock because dear god dear lord she looks like her mother when she hears someone walk into her room without knocking. She knows it's Myron (he's the only one who actively seeks her out anymore and she totally appreciates his support over the past six months, and she thinks she might even miss him a little after graduation, but not enough to stay in contact once she flees MIT) even before he calls out her name.

"Felicity," He yells even though the rooms are the size of a prison cell and she can hear him just fine, "You here?"

Felicity glances down at her outfit (pink nails that match her pink mouth, a white blouse, a midi floral skirt that twirls around her legs as she walks, and a pair of truly ridiculous ballet flats that have _actual_ cats faces on them) and exhales slowly, bracing herself, and then she walks out of her bathroom, black top dangling from her hands as she fixes her blonde ponytail. She almost wants to smirk at the way Myron immediately stops picking through the garbage bag that's filled with her old clothes, but she doesn't, and she doesn't smile when Myron blinks at her like he's seeing her for the first time, asking, "What happened to you?"

"This is me now," Felicity says simply as she walks towards him, her cat-faced ballet flats tapping against the floor as she throws her mesh top in the garbage bag with the rest of her old wardrobe. It's time for her to leave behind Felicity-the-Hacktivist and become Felicity Smoak, MIT graduate, and IT-Girl.

She accomplishes this by accepting an entry-level position at Queen Consolidated. It’s mind-numbing work and she could probably do it in her sleep because she’s _so_ overqualified for the position — hell, she’s overqualified for her so-called _supervisor’s_ position — but she is no longer the person she once was. Felicity-the-Hacktivist doesn’t exist anymore. She’s Felicity Smoak, IT-Girl, so she keeps her head down and does her work. Her work is flawless and beyond reproach, or so she thinks, until she receives a summons from Walter Steele.

Before she can contemplate the potential consequences of her actions, Felicity is marching into Mr. Steele’s office, eyes narrowed while her black mini-skirt twirls hazardously around her thighs. “I’ve got one question,” Felicity practically shouts, her mother’s _loud voice_ tumbling from her pink mouth, “ _Why_ am I being fired?”

Walter Steele looks up from the report he’d been studying, one eyebrow arched, “Ms. Smoak, isn’t it?”

“ _Yes_. And I am, without a doubt, the single most valuable member of your technical division. That’s including my so-called _supervisor_ ,” Felicity rants, unable to stop herself from forming quotations around the word ‘supervisor’ because even now it’s laughable to her that _Dick the Dick_ holds that position. “I know I’ve only been here nine months but letting me go would be a major error for this company.”

“I agree,” Walter agrees, closing the folder with a snap, “Which is why you’re not being fired.”

Felicity blinks, then blinks again, because his words do not compute. “Oh,” Felicity murmurs, and then her eyes widen when she realizes her attitude was misplaced. “I assumed when you brought me up here it was because you were, you know,” She says before she gesticulates having her throat slit. In her defense, any rational person would assume they're being cut loose when they receive a summons from the CEO. 

Walter Steele has the most impressive poker face she’s ever seen (which is saying something, because she practically grew up in a casino in Las Vegas) and he doesn’t even blink. “It’s because I wanted you to look into something for me,” He says, handing her the report he’d been studying when she stormed in. “A variance of 2.6 million on a failed investment from one year ago, it was authorized by my wife." His recent marriage to Moira Queen is all Channel 7 News has been talking about for weeks now. "I was hoping you could find out some of the… _details_ of the transaction for me.”

Felicity accepts the report, blue eyes scanning the information in front of her, before she purses her lips. “Find out?” She asks, seeking clarification, because her plan is to keep her head down and do her job, not get involved in some Shakespearean drama between her boss and his new wife.

“Dig up,” Walter says, looking at her pointedly, “ _Discreetly_.”

Felicity wants to refuse, wants to continue to live her life as a normal IT-Girl, but she is _bored_ and this is the most interesting thing to happen to her since she started working at Queen Consolidated. “I’m your girl,” Felicity beams, accepting the task with a nod, her words catching up with her as she makes her way back towards the door, and she winces when she looks back at Walter. “I mean, I’m _not_ your girl. I wasn’t making a pass at you.” Walter’s eyebrows travel higher up his forehead and she quits while she’s ahead, blurting, “Thank you for not firing me.”

Felicity hacks every database she can think of, utilizing skills she hasn’t used since Cooper and MIT, but it’s like riding a bike and it doesn’t matter how much she searches because nothing changes the fact that the company Mrs. Queen (Mrs. Steele? Queen-Steele?) invested in doesn’t exist. There was no investment and, instead, Moira Queen used the money to set up an offshore LLC. It's called Tempest which is, you know, a little dark considering what happened to the Queen's Gambit.

Walter assures her afterward that it was all a misunderstanding and that he will talk it over with Moira Queen, which Felicity knows is a lie because British people make terrible liars, but she _still_ can’t let it go. Felicity hates mysteries, they bug her, and they need to be solved, and she’s determined to solve this one, which ends with her receiving a visit from none other than Moira Queen.

“You’re meddling in things you have no right to meddle in and, if you won’t keep your nose out of it for _my_ sake, you should do it for your own.” Moira threatens without actually voicing a _threat_ , but Felicity’s always been pretty good at reading between the lines. “We _all_ have to keep secrets, Ms. Smoak.”

Felicity has no intention of letting it go, ever, and a week later she receives an email from Human Resources, telling her that her services are no longer required at Queen Consolidated. Red-hot anger burns like acid in her throat and she refuses to quit her search for the truth because she can’t help but think that Moira Queen’s using that offshore LLC for evil, dubious plots, but then the city falls apart. Literally.

An Earthquake destroys the Glades, killing thousands, and she knows it will be months if not years before the city recovers. Her search falls to the back burner because she needs to find a new place to live after her apartment building was damaged in the earthquake and, while she received a substantial severance package from Queen Consolidated, she really needs to find work.

Felicity decides to use the money from her severance package to start her own software firm and to overhaul her entire wardrobe, replacing her skirts and kitten heels with sexy dresses and pumps. She buys an abandoned clock tower on the edge of what _used_ to be the Glades, with the intention of using the bottom level as an office, while converting the upper level into a loft. Walter Steele comes to visit her one day, face pinched in a way that makes her heart _ache_ , and offers to invest in her company.

Her brows furrow, and then her eyes widen. “Are you…” Felicity blinks, but then she smiles. “Thank you, Mr. Steele.”

“You'll find it's the least I can do,” Walter assures, “And I’m no longer your boss, Felicity. So, let’s make it Walter from now on.”

Affection swells within her chest for her former boss. “Okay,” Felicity agrees, and she attempts to mimic his British accent, “ _Walter_.”

Felicity works on a consultation bases and builds up a clientele, much faster than she expected, but she knows it's partly because of Walter. He feels responsible, she knows, because he's the one that handed her the mystery that resulted in her termination at Queen Consolidated. However, she's grateful for all of his help, and there's no shortage of work to be done to the city. The big companies just _can't_ cope. It's been a long couple of months and the city is hurting.

It takes nearly three weeks before the power is hooked back up, and three months later there's still portions of the city smoldering. Crime reaches an all-time high, which is worrying, because Starling City's crime rate has never been _low,_ but the survivors, as few as there are (the 503 the news call them) lost everything. And not everyone from the Glades is willing to accept the assistance from Starling City's elite — _charity_ , they call it — and some resort to crime instead.

Felicity is walking back to the clock tower one night — she's developing a software for Black Hawk Security Squad and she's reached a roadblock, so she decided to process her way through a pint of mint chip, but she ran out last night so she has to walk to the corner store a few blocks over because her beloved car didn't survive the earthquake — when she feels the hair on the back of her neck rise. She tightens her hold on her olive green purse, fully prepared to use it as a makeshift weapon if she has to, and speeds up, her pink pumps click-clacking against the pavement. Catcalls follow her for two blocks before they die out, and Felicity finally relaxes, only to yelp when someone steps out of the shadows in front of her.

"Nice night," He says, mouth curved into a cruel smirk, chuckling when she uses all of her strength to smack him in the face with her purse when he advances on her. "You've got a little fight in you," He notes, rubbing his jaw with his right hand. "I _like_ that."

"Then you're going to love _me_ ," a new voice snarls, a woman's voice, and then a masked woman dressed in black leather emerges from the shadows holding a metal staff menacingly over her shoulder. "Get out of here," She orders Felicity, who is frozen on the spot, and then she attacks. She doesn't show mercy and renders Felicity's would-be attacker unconscious, but not before she breaks his arm, his collarbone, and _at least_ three ribs.

After that night, it seems like everyone is talking about the masked vigilante, a welcome reprieve from the horrors that have flashed across the screen ever since the earthquake destroyed the Glades. She's apparently on a one-woman mission to eradicate misogyny, attacking men who attack women, and then it becomes a two-woman mission when she joins up with the vigilante the news has been calling The Huntress.

The Huntress came on the scene months ago, targeting the major crime families in Starling City.

It's all the news talks about for weeks but then the woman in black's psycho partner kills Frank Bertinelli, with a _crossbow_ of all things, and there are whispers of the SCPD putting together an anti-vigilante task force. Detective Quentin Lance stands in front of the reporters one day, a truly impressive frown etched on his face, declaring, "These so-called vigilantes are _dangerous_. We do not need to go outside the law to get justice."

Two days later, Nick Salvati is found dead, a note pinned to his chest with an arrow.

 _Sometimes_ , the note reads, _Revenge is justice._

Nick Salvati's death is pushed back to page 6, though, when Sara Lance comes back from the dead. " _Sara Lance is alive,"_ they report, shocked, " _Four years after she was presumed dead following the accident at sea which claimed the Queen's Gambit. Sara Lance is the sister of newly appointed ADA, Laurel Lance, the high school sweetheart of billionaire Oliver Queen. Queen was with the younger Lance on the Queen's Gambit when the yacht capsized on its voyage to China..."_

Sara Lance avoids being seen by the reporters for weeks, but then she's there, constantly at Helena Bertinelli's side after the latter inherits her father's fortune and construction company, Bertinelli Construction. Helena's determined to use both to help the city that her father helped destroy long before an earthquake leveled the Glades, and Sara Lance is her bodyguard and constant shadow, though how a shipwrecked Pre-Med student learns the skills necessary to become a bodyguard, Felicity doesn't know.

Felicity's answer comes a week later when Helena Bertinelli, clad in a purple summer dress and black open-toe heels that make her look badass, walks into her office in the middle of her lunch break. "Felicity Smoak?... Hi, I'm Helena Bertinelli, and this is my partner, Sara Lance." She says partner instead of bodyguard but, before Felicity can puzzle out that word choice, Helena's holding out a security fob with a pleasant, but fake, smile etched into her face as she explains. "I found this in my father's office after he died. It has data that's _imperative_ to Bertinelli Construction, but it's password protected and I can't seem to find the damn pin. If there's anything you can do, I would _really_ appreciate it."

"Well, if I was a criminal, I probably wouldn't leave the password on a sticky-note for anyone to find either." Felicity says, wheeling herself closer to take the security fob, turning it over in her hands before her eyes widen. "Not that I think _you're_ a criminal, obviously, just because you inherited your father's fortune and company doesn't mean you're also taking over his _other_ business _._ Not that his business or your business is any of _my_ business. And you came here for me to hack into this, which I will do, in 3...2...1."

"You're cute," Sara Lance says, mouth curved into a small smile.

Felicity blinks and then babbles because even she, who has never been adept at picking up social cues, can tell the other blonde is flirting with her, but she ignores it and decrypts the security fob in record time. "Um, I don't think this has anything to do with Bertinelli Construction. I think what you stumbled upon, or rather, had _me_ stumble upon has to do with your father's _other_ enterprise. It's full of shipping manifests and logs that track the _merchandise_ your father was bringing in Starling City."

Helena doesn't bat an eyelash, "Do you know what the merchandise is?"

Felicity narrows her eyes in suspicion but her fingers dance across the keyboard and she brings up the files, red lips pursed as she scans the files. "It doesn't go into detail, but if you go down to the docks tonight, dollars to doughnuts you'll find out." Felicity answers, scribbling the number for the shipping container on a purple post-it note before she hands it to Helena. "A shipment's due to come in tonight at 11 PM."

"Thanks," Helena nods, flashing a smile as she accepts the post-it note, "I like the purple. We'll let you get back to your lunch."

Felicity's mouth quirks into a small smile, ready to write this off as the most bizarre thing ever, and she reaches for the remainder of her Big Belly Buster, only for Sara Lance's voice to stop her. "You know," Sara says conversationally, her blonde braid sweeping across her back as she tilts her head to the side, "The Patty Shack over on 5th and Brewer has the best burgers in town."

"Well, Patty Shack's in the Count's territory, so you can risk a bullet or Vertigo overdose for your sub-par burger if you want," Felicity counters without missing a beat. "But Big Belly Burger is the food of the _gods_."

Sara arches an eyebrow, amusement flickering across her face, "It's full of salt and grease."

"I thought those were the secret ingredients," Felicity muses, taking a deliberate bite, eyebrow arched in challenge.

Later that night, when she's reading up about how some genius billionaire wants to re-brand the city by naming it Star City, Felicity's quiet night of relaxation is interrupted when the weather forecast is replaced by breaking news. " _This just in,"_ They report. _"Twenty-eight girls will be going home to their families tonight after being rescued from a shipping container that came into Starling City Bay earlier this evening. SCPD was called to the scene after someone called in reports of gunfire, but the real heroes tonight are Starling City's own vigilantes._ "

Felicity makes a sound low in her throat, a surprised squeak, before she sets aside her tablet on her coffee table and goes in search of ice-cream, because she has the feeling she was just an accessory to vigilantism and it's going to take at least a pint of mint chip to process her way through that. Seven hours after she told Helena Bertinelli and Sara Lance that a shipment was coming into the docks tonight, Starling City's vigilantes, a masked blonde woman in black and a crossbow-toting brunette who murdered Frank _Bertinelli_ , were involved in a shootout down at the docks. Ipso facto, Sara Lance and Helena Bertinelli _are_ Starling City's vigilantes.

Felicity's mind whirls when she comes to that realization, almost like a track with too many trains, but she decides to never breathe a word of her realization to anyone because she doesn't want to end up like Frank Bertinelli or Nick Salvati, which is a great plan, though a part of her doubts that they would hurt her because vigilantes who dedicate their lives to protecting women would never hurt one. But either way, they're making a _difference_ , and she thinks they could do some real good in Starling City.

Still, she decides to _not_ confront the duo on their secrets, because it's none of her business how the two of them decide to spend their nights and the whole experience was an anomaly, an outlier, and it's not like she's ever going to see them again. Two weeks later, because the universe is a bitch, that theory is blown out of the water when they walk into her office again, this time with a bullet-ridden laptop.

The Huntress and the woman in black, who _really_ needs her own badass code name, busted up an underground casino last night.

Felicity's willing to bet her entire savings account that _that_ is the real reason for the bullet-ridden laptop and not their well-rehearsed bullshit lie.

"Damage seems to be contained to the screen and the hard drive compartments seem to be intact," Felicity murmurs absently as she starts to hook up the laptop, eyebrows furrowed when the laptop powers up without a problem, and then her mouth curves into a smirk when the laptop asks for the password. "Let me guess," She drawls, "You forgot your password?"

"Can't seem to find the post-it note I wrote it on," Helena teases, shrugging, her self-deprecating smile spot-on.

Felicity rolls her eyes at the callback and plugs the laptop into her main computer, because this she understands, this she can do, and pulls up the password override software she developed after one too many executives needed their passwords reset. "It should only take a few minutes to override," She says and the three of them wait in uncomfortable silence until the computer finishes breaking the password, giving Felicity access to the files. "Doesn't look like there's much on here. A few encrypted emails and an image file. The emails are encrypted, and I can't trace them, but the picture is a map of what used to be the East Glades. That entire area was destroyed during the earthquake, the only thing that's left is an old detention center that was abandoned two years ago." At their arched eyebrows, Felicity shrugs, "Cut backs."

Helena and Sara share a loaded look, having a conversation with frowns and arched eyebrows, and then the blonde is grinning at Felicity. "Thank you," Sara grins.

"I figured I owed you one anyway since you saved my life," Felicity says, narrowing her eyes when Sara startles. "I'm blonde but I'm not _that_ blonde."

Sara's mouth quirks up into a small smile, but then her expression hardens, and she says, "You don't owe me anything." Her voice is steel and laced with hatred, and suddenly she sounds more like the woman in black that's been terrorizing attackers than she does Sara Lance. "A woman should _never_ suffer at the hands of a man," She insists.

"Still, you saved me, so _thank you_." Felicity smiles, eyes darting over to Helena before she looks back at Sara. "But I would appreciate it if, next time you need my help, you _asked_ for it instead of treating me like a dumb blonde in a short skirt. I got enough of that when I worked at Queen Consolidated. If you need help _, ask_ ," She says, her own voice hardening. "If I'm going to be an accessory to vigilantism I would like to know _why_."

Helena and Sara leave but, the next morning when she reads about how Starling's vigilantes took down the Count, the monster behind Vertigo, by destroying the lab he was holed up in an abandoned detention center, Felicity can't help but smile. _"A girl high on Vertigo walked out into traffic after she scored some at Poison, a new club own by Max Fuller."_ Sara explains the next days when she drops by Felicity's office, burgers from Patty Shack in hand.  _"We couldn't let that stand,"_ She continues. 

Felicity doesn't mean to get more involved in the team than that, doesn't intend to turn their duo into a trio, but before she knows it she's a full-fledged member instead of a freelancer. The clock tower becomes their base of operations and Felicity spends her nights guiding the Huntress and the Canary (which she thinks is a much, much better name than _the woman in black_ ) through the city, hunting the criminals that are poisoning their streets.

 _"I'm coming up on 52nd street, heading east,"_ Helena says, her motorcycle roaring in the background.

"Copy that," Felicity says, clicking keys on her keyboard as she uses the traffic cameras to follow Helena through Star City. "Or is it Roger? I never know the difference." Felicity's musings end when Vincent Steelgrave's car takes a right turn, sending him right to where Sara's waiting for him. "Canary, our target's coming up on your location."

 _"Roger,_ " Sara answers, smile obvious, _"I got him."_

"Oh, so it _is_ Roger. He's heading up Warner, heading North."

 _"I'm on my way_ ," Helena says, and then continues talking because there's always chatter on their lines, much to Sara's annoyance. _"And there better be pizza left when we get back to Watchtower, Oracle. You know, Canary and I are the ones that do all the night sweeps, we're the ones that do all the fieldwork—"_

"Hey," Felicity squawks, outraged, "I want it on record that I _offer_ to do some of the fieldwork."

 _"And we're the ones with the bruises in really embarrassing places,"_ Helena continues,  _"Would it kill you to save me some pie?"_

 _"What is this obsession with food,"_ Sara asks, baffled, then Helena growls,  _"You try fighting the forces of evil when your blood sugar's low."_

Felicity chokes out an amused, delighted laugh and shakes her head, and places an order at Mario's for a mushroom and pepperoni pizza, figuring the brunette would much rather a freshly made, still-hot pie instead of the leftover scraps from the one Felicity ordered yesterday lunchtime. "Pizza will be here by the time you get home," Felicity promises over the indignant cry of a disgruntled criminal. "Pretty sure we have some tequila left too. We can eat pizza and get drunk off cheap margaritas," She smirks.

 _"You've got yourself a deal, Geek-Girl,"_ Helena says, then, _"He's headed into the warehouse, Canary. I'm right behind you."_ Chaos erupts on the other end of the comms as Helena and Sara eliminate the goon-squad that stands between them and this week's bad guy. Some gunfire, a couple grunts and indignant cries later, and Helena's speaking again. _"We got him, Oracle,"_ Helena says,  _"We're coming home."_

"Roger than, Huntress," Felicity smiles before she mutes her comm, and then she starts system diagnostics for the computer set up she designed for Watchtower, their code name for the clock tower, all the while listening to the Channel 7 News.

 _"These so-called 'Birds of Prey' just took down another one of Star City's most wanted,"_ the news anchor argues, and it has become clear over the past couple of months that he is one of their biggest supporters. " _And there's no denying that the city's crime rate has plummeted in these past five months—"_

"You're welcome," Felicity snarks, rolling her chair to the other end of the desk to grab the broken laptop she's been tinkering with.

 _"Even our unemployment rate has decreased lately,"_ He continues. _"Now that Bertinelli Construction has started to build low-incoming housing in the East Glades, the city has finally started to rebuild after the devastating earthquake of 2011, with more and more investors coming forward every day. Star City is thriving and—"_

Felicity's brow furrows when the news anchor trails off, talking to someone off-screen, but then he's back to looking at the camera with wide eyes. " _Oliver Queen is_ alive." He announces, and she stares wide-eyed at the anchor from Channel 7. _"The Star City resident — formerly Starling City, prior to Ray Palmer's re-branding project — was found by fishermen in the North China Sea five days ago, five years after he was declared missing and presumed dead following the accident at sea which claimed the Queen's Gambit…"_

"Holy Frak." Felicity blinks, eyes wide. "We're going to need more than pizza and cheap margaritas."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really, really sorry that this chapter was late. But I'm done uni and now I have to adult. This meant moving into my own place (that is not a matchbox-sized res room) and starting an adult job. I also had to travel back to uni one last time for my convocation and then a banquet with my graduating class. On the upside, I am done school forever.

_iii._

Felicity is seven and she has no doubt that she's loved.

She knows she is because her parents tell her so, and because she _feels_ it. Felicity feels their love when her father tucks her into bed every night, pressing a gentle kiss to the crown of her head, and she feels her mother’s love in every hug, in every smile, she hears it every time her mother calls her _my beautiful girl_.

Her parents love her more than anything else in the world, and that’s enough for Felicity.

Their love is _more_ than enough, _honest_ , and tears well up in her bright blue eyes as she listens to the sound of her parents’ raised voices. Again. Donna’s loud voice echoes through their two-bedroom apartment, a sure sign that she's reached the end of her thread, and Felicity really thinks someone should have told her father that. Her mother's loud voice has become a constant in their apartment over the last two weeks, ever since something happened to make Donna _scared_ , but this is their worst argument yet.

Felicity blames the creepy man that came to visit them.

He smiled when he noticed her standing behind her mother's legs, but his impossibly blue eyes were cold. _"Well hello there, miss. My name's Malcolm,"_ He introduced as he dropped into a crouch, oozing what her mother calls used-car salesman-esque charm. _"I'm a friend of your father's."_

Felicity moved into view to scowl at him,  _"My name is Felicity, not Miss."_

Annoyance flickered across his face before his crooked mouth curved into a smirk. _"Felicity,"_ He nodded, his smile widening. _"A pretty name for a pretty girl,"_ He noted.

 _"I'm smart,"_ Felicity huffed, crossing her arms, _"Not pretty._ "

Then Noah was there, lifting her into his arms with practiced ease, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. _“You’re both, pearl,”_ He said because that’s what he always called her, his perfect pearl, and then he placed her on the floor and steered her towards Donna. _“But Daddy needs to talk to Malcolm about boring grown up stuff—"_

 _“I’m a grown up,”_ Felicity protested angrily because she hates being treated like a child. Just because she’s seven doesn’t mean she’s stupid.

 _“Why don’t you go upstairs with Mommy? I’m sure if you ask nicely she’ll paint your nails the brightest shade of pink she owns,”_ Her father continued as if he hadn’t heard her, his blue eyes begging her to listen to him. _“And, after, if you’re a good girl, you can have some ice-cream_.”

Her lips pursed. _“Mint-chip?”_

_“Of course mint-chip!”_

Hours have passed since then and she's eaten her dinner and _two_ scoops of mint-chip and been readied for bed by Donna, but her father hasn't come to tuck her in and kiss her goodnight yet, and Felicity refuses to go to bed until he does.

So, Felicity sits up in bed, holding her beloved stuffed-panda tightly, waiting for her father, and she smiles when she hears the click-clacking of her mother’s heels against the hardwood floors. She throws off the covers and prepares to run to the door but she pauses when she hears her mother’s voice, still angry and tight, and then she sees shadows dance as her mother paces back and forth outside her door.

Felicity blinks, crawls to the edge of her bed, and furrows her brow in concentration as she tries to hear what her mother’s saying to Noah. She _knows_ that eavesdropping is bad, just as bad as telling fibs and talking back, but she _needs_ to know what’s being said. Her parents have been fighting for weeks but no one will tell her why.

Felicity _hates_ mysteries. They buy her and they need to be solved.

“It’s not that complicated, Noah,” Frustration laces her mother’s voice, “It’s actually really, _very_ simple.”

“Dee—" Noah’s voice follows, his voice warm and soothing, but Felicity knows that tone and it never fails to bring out her mother’s loud voice. It’s what she calls her father’s ‘Donna you’re being ridiculous’-voice.

“No, Noah. It’s a good offer, you _know_ that.” Donna continues, cutting off her husband, talking over him as her voice elevates. “I know I don’t understand half of your techno-babble but the police are looking for you. The _FBI is_ looking for you, Noah. What if someone finds out who you are and they come after you? What about Felicity? They could take her away from us! From _me_! And I won’t lose my baby girl, Noah.”

Felicity's blue eyes widen at the thought of someone taking her away from her parents, away from her home, and she finds herself agreeing with Donna. Whatever her father must do for them to stay together, Noah should do it. Staying together is far more important than _how_ they stay together.

“Malcolm’s offer is a chance for us to start over; it’s a clean slate.” Her mother continues, then there’s silence and Felicity holds her breath as she waits for her mother to continue. “And if you don’t want to take it, if you don’t want to start over, that’s fine. But I _have_ to do what’s best for _Felicity_. And you won’t be in her life, Noah. Not like this.”

Felicity holds her breath and waits to see if her father will say anything but that’s apparently the end of the conversation because, next thing she knows, Noah is turning the door handle and Felicity’s scurrying back up to the top of her bed so Noah won’t know she was eavesdropping on _purpose._ Light spills into her bedroom when her father pushes the door open and enters the bright yellow bedroom, and he’s not at all surprised to see his daughter sat up in bed, and his blue eyes are soft and warm with affection.

“Hello, my pearl.” Noah smiles as he walks further into the room and, just like his eyes, his voice is soft and warm when he encourages her to crawl under the covers, and then he’s sitting on the side of the bed and kissing the crown of her head as he murmurs an _I love you_ into her brunette curls. “Everything's going to be all right.” Her father assures, brushing the curls out of her face. “You'll see, sweetheart. It will get better.”

“Even you and Mom?” Her voice sounds small and fragile and she hates it, even at her young age.

Felicity doesn’t want to be scared. She wants to be bold and brave.

A flood of understanding fills her father’s eyes and Felicity knows that she’s been caught, that her father knows that she was eavesdropping and listening to things she had no business listening to, but her father doesn’t scold her. Instead Noah scoops her up into his arms, holding her tightly as if he’ll never ever let her go, and he places another kiss to the crown of her head. “I love you, Felicity.” Noah vows as he holds Felicity, running his fingers through her brown curls. “And I promise, _I promise_ , everything will be better once we get to Starling City.”

“Okay, Daddy,” Felicity replies as she wraps her chubby arms around her father’s neck.

When they move to Starling City, Felicity's three months shy of her eighth birthday.

Noah keeps his promise. It takes time but, eventually, everything _does_ get better.

The townhouse they move into is twice the size of their old apartment in Las Vegas, and she loves her room, and her parents tell her she can paint it any color she wants. Felicity decides she wants to paint one wall pink and another wall green, leaving the other two white, and her mother shakes her head in amusement when they finish. _“Felicity,”_ Donna huffs, looking around the freshly painted room, pink paint smudged on one of her cheeks, _“Your room looks like a watermelon.”_

It does, it so totally does, and it only makes Felicity love it more.

Her mother sometimes misses the casino where she used to work, Felicity knows, but eventually she finds work with an event planning service and her hours are much better than they ever were in Las Vegas. Donna picks her up from school three times a week for ballet, then after, Felicity walks down the street to where her father works at Queen Consolidated. He works in the IT-Department. Robert Queen keeps a stash of candy for her in his office and there’s always spare parts for her to fiddle with. It’s practically Candy-land to Felicity, and she decides she wants to be just like her father when she grows up.

Donna starts singing 80s love ballads again.

And there’s no more talk of Noah _leaving_.

Her parents stop arguing 

Everything's _better_.

When Felicity is in the sixth grade she's skipped ahead in school. It's not surprising, not really, because she's always been at the top of her class, always so ahead of everyone else, and she transfers to Starling Preparatory Academy. Her parents are beyond proud, but Donna worries because Felicity's always found it difficult to connect with her peers, but now she'll have nothing in common with her classmates. Not even her age.

Felicity doesn't care, she's never been one to have a lot of friends.

That all changes when she turns fourteen and meets Sara Lance.

Felicity is sitting at one of the tables in the quad one day, editing her essay about notions of justice in To Kill a Mockingbird, a red pen caught between her vibrant pink lips, when Sara Lance falls onto the bench on the opposite side, smiling, and Felicity _so totally_ envies the way Sara manages to make the action look graceful.

“Felicity! I _love_ the new blonde hair; we blondes have more fun anyway.” Sara Lance winks before she reaches across the table to pull the red pen free, her smile widening when Felicity scowls, then laughter, light and innocent, tumbles from Sara's pale pink lips. “Whoa, careful there, Kuttler.” She teases. “Medusa called and she wants her withering glare back.”

Felicity tilts her head to the side, mouth pursed into a pinched line, and she chokes down the attitude she wants to unleash because the sooner she finds out what the other blonde _wants_ , the sooner Sara will _leave_. “What do you want, Lance?” Felicity asks, her tone the furthest thing from friendly, because they’re not _friends_.

To Felicity's eternal surprise, Sara _hesitates_ , and then she's reaching into her backpack for a laptop that she's decorated with a gazillion stickers. "I'm, um. I'm having problems with my laptop? And, well, everyone knows how smart you are with computers." It's the reason behind half of the stares and sneers Felicity receives from their classmates, actually, but Sara has tact enough not to say it. "And I was hoping you'd be able to fix it? My history project is on here and it's due last period."

Felicity slumps forward, muttering under her breath, because blue-eyed blondes in need of computer help has always been her kryptonite. "Okay, fine, but you owe me, Sara." Felicity shoves her essay into her own panda-faced backpack, and then she's holding out her hands, making grabby motions for the laptop. "Gimme," She orders.

Bright blue eyes widen in surprise, then flutter closed in relief. "Seriously? Oh, thank you, thank you, _thank you._ ” Sara breathes, practically shoving the laptop into the other blonde’s hands, and then she watches in silence as Felicity's sparkling blue nails dance across the keyboard.

Felicity doesn't even notice the staring because her entire focus is on the laptop in front of her. She's determined to solve the mystery in front of her. Like when she was a child, mysteries still bug her and they need to be solved. And, even though it takes the rest of their free period, Felicity manages to fix the laptop and recover the damned history project.

Which means it's time for her life to go back to normal; the normal sans Sara Lance.

Sara clearly doesn't agree with that plan because, after her entire face breaks out into a wide smile, she says, "Holy fuck! Thank you! You're a lifesaver and, to show my eternal gratitude now that you've saved my B-average, after school I'm going to treat you to the _best_ black and white milkshake of your life. Milkshakes are the cure for all things shitty in life, Lissy."

Felicity frowns at the nickname because no, that is something that is not happening, _ever_. “I think I’d settle for you never calling me _Lissy_ ever again,” She admits.

Impossibly, Sara’s wide smile widens even more. "You can snark all you want," Sara beams, climbing to her feet when the warning bell sounds, "But give it time and it'll grow on you, Lissy. Just like me. Because I've decided we should be friends." Felicity's eyes widen and she almost chokes on her saliva because she thinks Sara might _actually_ be serious. "I'll bring my incredible wit, you can bring your snark and sour disposition, and we'll grab some burgers and 'shakes at the Patty Shack. It'll be totally fun."

Felicity thinks that sounds like the total _opposite_ of fun, but what she says is, “I prefer Big Belly Burger.”

“That’s because you haven’t _had_ the Patty Shack. Which we have to fix _stat_ ,” Sara says, linking her arm through Felicity’s. “They have the best milkshakes in Starling City.”

It ends up not being the worst experience of her life and, while she'll forever be loyal to her beloved Big Belly Buster, even Felicity has to admit that Patty Shack's milkshakes are _delicious_. "But I don't know if it's the best milkshake ever," Felicity muses, thoughtful, as she dunks a greasy fry into her milkshake, "Because there _has_ to be places in Starling that I haven't tried. Maybe one of _those_ places make the best milkshakes in Starling City."

“We should try them,” Sara muses, smiling, “For science.”

Felicity tilts her head to the side. “You mean… try _some_ of them?”

“No,” Sara laughs, blue eyes twinkling in amusement, “I mean try _all_ of them.”

Felicity's not entirely sure how the tradition starts, but milkshakes-with-Sara becomes a thing, and the two of them meet up a few times each week, each time trying a different place. It turns out she actually  _likes_ Sara, which makes Felicity question her entire life and almost drives her to the brink of an existential crises, and before she knows it the two of them are friends. _Best_ friends. With Sara by her side, Felicity's senior year turns out better than she ever could have hoped.

Sara Lance is wild ( _"I've dated a lot of delinquents, much to my father's chagrin," Sara explains when she teaches Felicity how to hot-wire a car_ ) and she has a sharp tongue ( _"Laurel got back together with Ollie, but they're acting like the break never happened instead of talking about it because who wants honest communication in a relationship?" Sara teases, gagging, "Ugh."_ ) and she's always, always there to remind Felicity there's more to life than studying ( _“There’s an entire world to explore, Lissy,” Sara declares. “Consider me your life coach. I’m going to teach you all things fun.”_ )

Felicity will miss Sara next fall when she leaves for MIT (Sara's already decided to attend university in Coast City, to study general science, because she eventually wants to be accepted into Pre-Med) but Sara's her best friend in life. No amount of distance is going to change that. Away at college the two of them still text and video-chat and call each other every week (Detective Lance's frown is so totally impressive when he sees Sara's phone bill that first month) and they see each other over break.

The summer Felicity turns 18, she and Sara are both home for the summer.

Neither know it at the time, but it's the last summer they'll be together.

Because that autumn Sara boards the Queen’s Gambit with Oliver.

Her friend works at a skeevy bar called Oblivion when she's in Coast City, but that summer she volunteers at Starling General, spending most of her days organizing supplies and doing busy work. But Sara also has the chance to watch a few surgeries, which she  _loves_ , and she always delves into all the gory details when she tells Felicity about her day, much to Felicity's horror. Felicity hates hospitals and she hates needles. All pointy things, really.

Felicity, needing something to do while Sara's at the hospital, decides to spend her summer working at Tech Village.

“It’s an exercise in _misery_ , Sara.” Felicity complains on the way to the beach, her white and blue dress draped haphazardly over thighs, her bare feet on the dash, her wedge-heels having been abandoned on the floor. “Tech Village is where dreams go to die it’s… it’s _hell_. Not that I generally believe in hell, but for Tech Village I’m willing to make an exception.”

Sara, clad in denim shorts and a dusty pink camisole, drums her canary yellow nails against the wheel as she listens to Felicity. “And you don’t think, oh I don’t know, that you’re being _dramatic_?”

“No. Yes. Maybe?” Felicity huffs, a thoughtful frown etching into her face _._ “I mean, the pay isn’t bad, but the uniforms _so totally_ suck, and if one more jackass tries to flirt with me using a _horrible_ computer-related pick-up line your father will be arresting me for murder… Oh! And my boss—”

"Lissy, no, today is not a day to be a downer. We're headed to the beach and we're going to swim and tan and drink disgusting lukewarm beer around a bonfire." Sara interrupts, eyebrow arched. "We are going to have _fun_ , not spend the day talking about your boss. Literally any topic other than work. Like _boys_ ," Her mouth curves into a smile and suddenly she looks like the cat that ate the canary. "For example, that guy from the other day looked like he had a big _hard-drive_ with a lot of _RAM_.” Sara teases.

“Sara, he was computer illiterate! He didn’t even know what _Linux_ is.” Felicity protests, cheeks flushed. “And—"

"And you didn't look twice at him. Actually, you haven't looked twice at _any_ guy all summer."

"Sara—"

“And don’t think I didn’t see those texts on your phone," Sara interrupts, and then sing-songs, "Who’s _Cooper_?”

“Just some boy from class,” Felicity answers. “And, wait— we’re having a bonfire?” Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Who else is coming?”

Sara's mouth curves into a devious smirk, one that makes the hair on Felicity's neck stand on end when the other blonde says, " _Friends_ , Lissy."

Felicity feels her heart sink down, down, down into her stomach when they arrive at the beach the same time as McKenna Hall, Tommy Merlyn, and Oliver Queen. It's a time bomb waiting to explode, she knows, because there's no way _this_ will end well. Laurel, Sara’s older sister, opted to not join them at the beach because she needs to study for the LSAT. But Oliver Queen is at the beach and he is dating Laurel (at least, Felicity _thinks_ they’re still dating, but it’s hard to keep up with their current status) and he also happens to be Sara’s long-time crush.

Felicity knows it’s only a matter of time before _that_ ends in catastrophe.

That's not to say she doesn't understand her friend's crush, because Felicity 100% understands the Oliver-Appeal. He's cute and unbearably attractive and charming in that charismatic way that just draws people to him. Felicity's watched Oliver from afar for years (not in a creepy stalker way, not like that lacrosse player who watched _her_ during her freshman year at MIT) because her father works for his father and she's seen him at different functions she's attended with Noah. She's known Oliver since she was eight, but the two of them aren't friends and have never really been in the same social circle despite their parents, at least not until she became friends with Sara. She's not even sure he knows her name.

Either way, Felicity _completely_ understands the Oliver-Appeal.

She'd probably be ass backwards crushing on Oliver Queen too if they weren't so unthinkable.

Which is probably why, later when everyone else is distracted with the bonfire, Felicity lets him kiss her.

Felicity's mouth curves into wide smile as she watches the scene in front of her (Tommy's attempting to make s'mores with McKenna's help, but she's too drunk to be of help to anybody, and Sara's watching the whole ordeal with glazed eyes and an amused smile) then shakes herself out of her thoughts when Oliver sits down beside her in the sand, two beers in hand, holding one out to her.

"Thanks," Felicity says, taking a sip, face scrunching up because the beer isn't even lukewarm anymore and it's gross, so gross. "I know I'm eighteen and beer is supposed to be the be all end all, but I'd much rather red wine or coffee." She muses thoughtfully, nervous laughter escaping her mouth. "Actually, I'm pretty sure coffee is the sole reason for my waking state 83% of the time. Did you know that coffee was first consumed in the ninth century, when it was discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia?" Felicity asks conversationally, looking at Oliver, then flushes when she realizes she's sprouting random facts. "Sorry," She adds. "I babble. It's a thing."

Oliver looks amused more than anything else, smiling so wide his dimple appears, and she can't help but think it's _unfair_ how attractive he is. "I know that, Felicity."

Felicity's flush deepens and she tries to look away, but he catches her gaze. "You know who I am?" She asks, confused, because she's been to some of his parties before with Sara but they don't exactly hangout. His father is her father's boss, and sometimes they're both dragged to events at Queen Consolidated, but that's about the extent of the things they have in common.

" _Fe-lic-ity_ ," Oliver chuckles, eyes crinkling, smiling crookedly at her, "You’ve been coming to my family’s annual Christmas Party every year since I was twelve. You and Sara have both looked out to Thea. And,” He huffs, “When I was in tenth grade you offered to tutor me in algebra.”

“You didn’t accept my offer, though. You still ended up with a D.” Felicity says, wincing when he arches an eyebrow in surprise, and she huffs. “If it’s online I can find it.”

"You're remarkable," Oliver muses, brushing her hair from her face, an easy confidence in his voice.

Her heart is in her stomach, beating fast. "Thank you for remarking on it," Felicity murmurs, eyes widening when he leans in, and she can smell the beer on his breath and she opens her mouth to protest but he doesn't give her the chance. The kiss is quick, and he leans back, waiting for a reaction, and then he smiles (it's a panty-dropping smile and his reputation as a playboy suddenly makes _so_ much sense because she can see why that smile makes smart girls stupid) before he leans in. Felicity's head tilts back with the kiss and his tongue slides across hers, and she blinks, dazed, when he leans back to smile at her.

"Ollie! _Oliie, Ollie, Oliie!_ " Tommy Merlyn shouts then, interrupting the moment, "Little Lance is a s'mores _genius_. Get over here."

Oliver aims one last smile at her before he wanders over to his best friend, and Felicity exhales shakily before she pinches her arm. She's sure she imagined the last five minutes of her life because there's no version of reality where Oliver Queen would _willingly_ kiss _her_. It's laughable and the two of them are completely unthinkable. It was one hell of a kiss though. Felicity's never been kissed like that before.

That night's the last time she sees Oliver Queen.

Three months later the Queen's Gambit is lost at sea.

Felicity's away at MIT, working on assignment at her favorite coffee shop, when she hears the news. Her heart shatters in her chest as she listens to the story because she _liked_ Robert (he was always kind to her, always laughed and said she was a chip off the old block when she babbled about the latest technology) and she liked _Oliver_ (she liked the sound he made when she babbled, right before he smiled, almost like a huff, like she surprised the smile out of him).

Donna calls her a week later, says there's something she needs to tell her. "It's about Sara," Her mother says, and grief wraps around Felicity's heart because she knows where this is going because Sara hasn't been responding to her texts and she just _knows_. "Oh, baby, I'm so sorry." Donna cries, voice hoarse and thick because she's always liked Sara, "Sara was on the Queen's Gambit with Oliver."

Felicity pinches the bridge of her nose and takes several breaths, composing herself, and then she promises to call her mother back later and walks back to her dorm room. She runs into Myron Forest outside the dorm and he shoves a sign-up sheet in her face, _Oliver Queen Dead Pool_ written at the top, and she loses it. "Fuck you," She snarls, her broken heart pounding in her chest, then she rips the page in half and throws it in his face. "100 bucks on him being _alive_ ," She throws over her shoulder.

"Whatever, Kuttler," Myron snorts, disbelief etched into his face, "I'll take your money."

Almost like it's a bad omen, after the loss of the Queen's Gambit, everything starts to fall apart.

Felicity's adrift without Sara, like she's slowly drowning, and then her world tilts on its axis once more when she learns that her parents are getting divorced. They tell her, together, when she's home on break from MIT. It shocks the hell out of her at the time but later, looking back, Felicity sees the signs that she didn’t realize _were_ signs. Her parents lived together, but they lived separate lives, and the only thing they’ve ever really had in common is how much they love Felicity.

And, while her parents love each other, and they _do_ love each other, their relationship lacked the warmth she remembers from her childhood.

Something broke between Noah and Donna a long time ago, back in Las Vegas, long before they ever moved to Starling City.

Donna keeps living in their family home, the two-bedroom townhouse they bought when they first moved to Starling City; Noah moves into a modern loft closer to Queen Consolidated; and Felicity doesn't go home the next summer. She focuses on her studies instead. She chooses to take courses through the summer to avoid going home to Starling City (it would be awkward, she suspects, not knowing which parent to stay with, afraid of hurting the other’s feelings) and she starts spending more time with Cooper Seldon. She's so, so angry at the world and he provides her with an outlet for that anger when he asks her to join his group of hacktivists. Felicity engages in civil disobedience via the worldwide web and names herself Ghost Fox Goddess.

It's reckless and stupid, and then she starts sleeping with Cooper. 

Cooper treats her like she's gold and computers like they're her.

Felicity figures a guy with priorities like that can’t be all bad.

But then she writes an x-axis bi-numeric algorithm.

Cooper uses it to erase hundreds of student loans before he's arrested by the FBI and her already fragile heart shatters in her chest when she visits him in prison. Felicity wants to come clean, to confess that _she_ is the one that created the virus, but he begs her not to. "I'm the one that wiped out those loans, Felicity." Cooper argues softly, then his expression softens. "There's no reason both of us should be in prison."

Felicity's heart feels heavy in her chest and she spends the entire night pacing her dorm room, chewing on her thumbnail, and she resolves to tell the truth because she cannot let her boyfriend go to prison for her. But Felicity's too late, and when she visits the next day, demanding to see Cooper, a prison guard with a sympathetic frown tells her the horrible truth. "Mr. Seldon hung himself last night," He tells her. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Felicity throws herself into her work (she's a lot like Noah, she realizes, because work has always been Noah's focus, and she thinks that was probably one of issues between her parents) like she had when she lost Sara and she graduates from MIT with a Master's in Computer Sciences and Cyber Security at 20. Noah and Donna are both at her graduation, smiles wide, and afterwards the three of them go out for Big Belly Burger. It's the first time in forever that the three of them felt like an actual _family_ and she sees a shred of hope for the first time since her mother told her Sara was on the Queen's Gambit with Oliver.

Felicity moves back to Starling City and Walter Steele, whom she’s always liked, now the CEO of Queen Consolidated, offers her a position in their IT-Department.

“It’ll be just like when you were a kid and you visited me at work,” Noah chuckles, wrinkles crinkled around his eyes.

Felicity smiles at her father's words, but her smile is strained, and she turns down the offer. "I'm sorry, Mr. Steele." She says regretfully, because it's a good offer and anyone else would jump at the chance to work for a company like Queen Consolidated. "But I’ve worked very hard to get where I am and it wasn’t so I could have my success _handed_ to me because I’m Noah Kuttler's daughter." Felicity tilts her chin in her impossible brave way then says, "Thank you for the offer, but I want to earn it on my own merit.”

She decides to take her mother's name, and becomes Felicity Smoak.

Felicity works on a consultation basis to start, which is awesome because she can make her own hours and she has the freedom to work out of her favorite coffee shop instead of a matchbox-sized office, and she starts to build up a reputation and a clientele of her own. Felicity knows a lot of the contracts she receives initially is because of Noah, despite his promise not to interfere, but then she writes a software for Blackhawk Squad Protection Group and completely overhauls Merlyn Global Group’s mainframe (she’s really proud of her work, actually. No one will be able to hack into it unless they’re plugged in directly) and her clientele doubles.

She decides to start her own software firm and she names it Smoak Tech.

Unsurprisingly, her father is her first investor, but Walter Steele is her second.

“You do good work, Ms. Smoak.” Walter says, eyes twinkling. “And let’s make it Walter from now on, hmm?”

Her life becomes something of a routine after that. She works and she has dinner with her father twice a week, always at an upscale restaurant of his choosing, and then she meets up with Donna on Mondays and Wednesdays for lunch at Big Belly Burger. Over burgers and shakes her mother tells her all about the cooking class she's taking, her failed attempt to start going to the gym, and she tells Felicity about her dates in explicit detail which always leads to exclamations of, _“ew, Mom, gross. Way TMI.”_

Noah never starts dating again.

That doesn’t surprise Felicity.

Then Donna starts dating Sara’s father, Detective Quentin Lance. "He's wonderful, baby girl," Donna says one Tuesday, and then she takes a sip from her strawberry milkshake, which tells Felicity all she needs to know because her mother only drinks strawberry when she’s happy. “In a _million_ different ways,” Donna continues, smile wide and happy, but there’s a furrow between her brows. “But that’s the problem, I think. It’s too easy to lose myself in him.”

Felicity realizes her mother loves the detective in a way she _never_ loved Noah. "Isn't that the way it's _supposed_ to feel when you're with someone?" Felicity asks as she reaches across the table to hold her mother's hand, and she remembers a bonfire and the beach and a kiss that made her toes curl. “You seem so happy with Quentin, Mom. Just _promise_ me you won’t get in your own way."

"No worries, baby," Donna teases, winking. "I know I'll never find another guy that hot who cooks.”

Felicity chuckles but it turns out Quentin _is_ a wonderful cook, and her routine comes to include dinner on Sundays with Quentin and Laurel. It feels weird at first, because as close as she was with Sara, she was never friends with Laurel, and for weeks the memory of her friend is an elephant in the room, but then Laurel invites her out to coffee. “Do you remember the sound of Sara’s laugh?” Laurel asks, brows furrowed. “I tried to remember it the other day and, I just, I couldn’t.”

Coffee dates become her thing with Laurel, much like how milkshakes was her thing with Sara, and with time Felicity learns to like Laurel for Laurel. It's not surprising, not really, because Laurel is smart and stubborn and determined to save the world in any way she can. Besides, Felicity finds it completely hilarious that Laurel's managed to convince herself that her whatever-it-is with Tommy Merlyn is a lapse and not an actual relationship because it's clear to everyone _except_ Laurel that Tommy is ass over backwards in love with her.

Summer fades into fall and, after five years on a deserted island in the North China Sea, Oliver Queen returns from the dead. His returns tilts the entire city on its axis and then, three weeks later, Oliver walks into her office with a lie on his lips and a bullet-ridden laptop. "Felicity Smoak?” He calls, holding the damaged laptop under his arm. “Hi, I’m Oliver Queen.”

Felicity cannot help the way she startles, lifting her head, and then she turns to face Oliver, eyes hiked in surprise as she stares up at him, plucking her red pen from her mouth. “Of course,” She waves her pen around and scoots her chair closer to her desk, “It’s been forever _—_ well, actually it’s been five years. Obviously. Because you've been gone for five years. Which I’m sure you don’t want to talk about with me, because why would you? And honestly I promised myself I wouldn’t bring it up if we ran into each other because it’s just not something you bring up in polite conversation but then you were, you know, _here_ and I wasn’t expecting you to be, well, _here_.”

Oliver’s eyes narrow as he watches her flounder for a moment and then, because her mouth and the universe hates her, she continues to babble.

“The point of that run-on sentence being that I _do_ remember you, Oliver." She laughs awkwardly, then adds, "It was one hell of a kiss.” Her eyes widen. “Which is so _not_ the professional thing to say, like, at all, because I’m sure you did not come here to listen to me babble.” Felicity taps her pen on the desk. “Which will end in 3… 2… 1.”

Recognition flickers across Oliver’s face and he raises an eyebrow, his mouth curving slightly. “I ask Walter to direct me to the best IT-technician in the city," He says, something akin to amusement sparkling in his impossibly blue eyes, "And I end up with Felicity Kuttler.”

“I actually go by Smoak now,” Felicity says. “I didn’t want to be defined by who my father is, if that makes sense.”

Oliver nods, looking more serious than she’s ever seen him, and it’s clear that he’s changed during his time on Lian Yu. “It makes more sense than you think,” He admits, something haunted in his blue eyes, and then he’s clearing his throat and looking back at Felicity. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting to see someone I knew… _before_.”

It’s probably why he came to her instead of going to Queen Consolidated, so Felicity folds her hand in front of her, the picture of professionalism. “What can I help you with, Mr. Queen?” Felicity asks.

“Felicity,” Oliver huffs, “It’s just Oliver. Mr. Queen was my father.”

“Right,” She nods, shrugging, “But he’s dead. I mean, he drowned. But you didn’t.” Felicity’s eyes widen because she _cannot_ believe the words tumbling out of her mouth. She should have sewn her mouth shut _years_ ago. “I wish I could say that I got a handle on this whole babble thing in the last five years but that could not be more wrong. Can we just pretend the last five minutes never happened?” She asks, then she takes a deep breath. “What can I help you with, Oliver?”

Oliver looks like, if he was the same man he’d been five years ago, that dimpled smile she remembers so well would be etched into his face, but it never appears and then he brings a laptop up and around to show Felicity. "I'm having some trouble with my computer and, when I mentioned it to Walter, he told me you were the person to come and see.” He lays it down on her desk and watches her roll closer, her hand spread over the laptop, orange nails flashing at him. “I was at my coffee shop, surfing the web, and I spilled a latte on it."

Felicity examines the laptop for a moment before she looks up at him, brow raised, “ _Really_?”

Oliver doesn't hesitate in the face of her skepticism, doesn't even blink, simply nods, "Yeah."

"'Cause these look like bullet holes," Felicity tells him matter-of-factly, head tilted to the side.

"My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood," Oliver tells Felicity, straight-faced, and she scowls at him because he's _still_ a terrible liar. “If there is anything that you can salvage from it,” Oliver continues, staring at her square in the eyes, “I would appreciate it.”

Felicity gives him a long look when Oliver’s mouth curves into that familiar panty-dropping smile because there’s something _missing_ , and that’s when she realizes that he’s not the same Oliver, that he’s hiding behind a façade of his former self. Then, in an act of what can only be an act of insanity, because blue-eyed blonde in need of computer help is _still_ her kryptonite, Felicity helps him retrieve the information from the damaged laptop even though it’s so obviously _not_ his.

“Felicity, _thank you_.” Oliver breathes, accepting the laptop back, his smile a little more sincere. Felicity's mouth curves into its own smile as he walks toward the door only to pause and look back at her, eyebrow arched, his expression an odd mix between thoughtful and calculating. “If I have another issue with my computer…"

“Luckily, Queen Consolidated has an entire IT-Department for that." Felicity says, smirk tugging at her lips. “I’m sure if you asked, my father would be more than happy to help you with whatever you need.”

She doesn't see Oliver again for a few weeks (Felicity doesn't think anything of it because it's not like they're _friends_ and that whole encounter was probably a one-time thing, but then he's accused of being the vigilante and arrested by Quentin, and she processes her way through a pint of mint-chip even when he's released because she remembers a horrible lie and a bullet-ridden laptop) but then he walks back into her office, this time with his bodyguard at his side.

Felicity's mouth, painted a distracting red instead of her usual vibrant pink, curves into an amused smile when she sees Oliver. "Mr. Queen," Felicity nods as she stands up, smoothing her hands on her floral dress before she reaches for the travel mug that declares _it's always coffee time_ , "Queen Consolidated still has an IT-Department. I know it's been a while, but I know for a fact you've been _there_ before." Her head tips to the side, "You used to spend a lot of time at QC, actually."

"I think we both know I was in it for the soda," Oliver counters quickly and she vividly remembers the stash of soda and candy Robert used to keep in his office because Moira wouldn't let him have it in the house with Oliver and Thea, and how he always used have twizzlers on hand for her when she visited Noah. "And I've told you to call me Oliver, Felicity." He reminds her and, when her gaze darts to Digg, he introduces the man that has become his partner. "This is John Diggle. He's my driver and bodyguard. Digg, this is Felicity."

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am," Digg says, suspicion and confusion evident.

"You too," Felicity says to Digg, smile sincere when she adds, "And it's Felicity."

Digg's expression softens a little and Oliver explains, "Her father is the Head of IT at QC."

"He taught me everything he knows," Felicity nods before she turns to Oliver, eyebrows raised, "And I've told you, Dad would be more than happy to help you with whatever your needs are. Technology wise, I mean. Your _technological_ needs, not any other needs, whatever they may be." She huffs, pursing her lips, before she continues, "So, what do you have for me today? Another bullet-ridden laptop?" 

"Not quite," Oliver says, smirking, "I was actually wondering if you could help my find a friend of mine."

Felicity's eyes narrow because she knows for a fact that Oliver's circle of actual _friends_ consists of Tommy, and sometimes Laurel, but that's a whole can of worms she has no desire to delve into. "I should add personal internet researcher for Oliver Queen to my job title," Felicity mutters, settling in front of her computer again, black nails dancing across the keys, wincing when she realizes her faux pas. "Happily, I mean," She adds, pursing her lips.

A smile plays at the edges of Oliver's lips. "His name is Derek Reston," He says. "We were close before I... _went away_ and... I want to get back in touch."

Felicity's expression tightens momentarily and Oliver remembers that Sara Lance was her best friend, but before he has the chance to feel guilty, let alone say anything, Felicity's tapping away at her keyboard. "I guess you didn't have Facebook on that island," she remarks, avoiding his gaze.

"Nope," Dig pipes up.  "Not even a MySpace account. It was a very dark time."

Felicity's entire face brightens when she looks over at Digg, sharing a smirk, and then she studies the screen. "Well, there's not much here that's recent. No credit activity, no utility bills..."  Her eyebrows raise, expression turning thoughtful.  "Oh! I guess you guys must have met at the factory."

Oliver's brow furrows with confusion.  "Wait, what? What factory?" He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. 

Felicity meets his eyes. "The Queen steel factory," She says. "Reston worked there for fifteen years until it shut down in '07."  

"Derek Reston worked for my father?" 

"You weren't really close friends, huh?" Felicity challenges, reminding him of the sharp-tongued girl that was a constant presence at Sara's side, but then she averts her eyes and refocuses on the information she found. "Looks like Derek was the factory foreman until your dad outsourced production to China. Fifteen hundred employees got laid off.  And it looks like the finance guys even found a loophole in the union contract so they didn't have to pay severance packages and pensions to their employees. They all pretty much lost their homes." She glances at Digg before turning her cornflower-blue eyes back to Oliver. "Including your _friend_."  

Oliver leaves quickly after that, a sincere thank you passing his lips before he leaves with John Diggle, and the whole encounter only adds to the mystery that is Oliver Queen. Each time he visits Smoak Tech, he has an odd request accompanied by a ridiculous lie, but he's always sincere when he thanks Felicity for her help. Oliver's a mystery and Felicity _hates_ mysteries. They bug her and they need to be solved.

Felicity would very much like to solve Oliver Queen.

She winces because her brain thinks of the worst way to say things but then her phone chimes to remind her that it’s Sunday, and Sunday means dinner with her mother, Laurel, and Quentin. Felicity makes it in plenty of time, but Quentin misses dinner after the Hood takes down the Royal Flush Gang. They order pizza as back-up because neither of them can cook (Quentin’s said in the past how he’s sure they’d starve without him) and the detective walks through the door when they’re halfway through _The Devil Wears Prada._

Donna uses her loud voice, which is just as terrifying as ever, and Quentin looks a little like a scolded puppy when he promises to leave work early the next night to make his famous chicken cacciatore.

"Felicity, you're just in time to eat," Quentin smiles tightly the next night when she walks into the apartment, and the reason for his pinched expression becomes clear when she sees her mother talking to Tommy, and she can't help the shit-eating grin that spreads across her face when Laurel tells her to _shut up_.

It's obvious that Laurel's moved on, or is at least _starting_ to, and it makes Felicity feel a little less guilty about not telling Laurel about Oliver showing up at Smoak Tech.

Not that Felicity has anything to feel guilty about, not really, because it's nothing.

Her and Oliver are just as unthinkable now as they've ever been.

Of course, Oliver proves her wrong three days later when he asks her out to dinner.

But first, Oliver asks her for another ridiculous favor.

"Hey, Felicity," Oliver greets, head tilted to the side, amused expression firmly in place because her forehead's doing the crinkle thing he remembers from high school, the frustrated furrow that he's always thought was adorable.

Felicity startles, but then beams a smile at him. “And here I was beginning to think my days of being Oliver Queen's personal computer geek were coming to end.” 

"Is that your way of saying you missed me?" Oliver asks, a playful edge to his voice that is very reminiscent of Oliver 1.0.

Sometimes Felicity misses how carefree he used to be before the island and a hundred different terrible experiences stole that piece of himself, but it's a refreshing change of pace and she decides to play along. "No.” Felicity says quickly, a little too quickly, then she adds, “But if it works for you, go with it."  

Oliver’s eyes crinkle in amusement before he says. “So, a friend of mine is running a scavenger hunt,” He begins and she looks at him sharply, because it's the most believable explanation he's given her, but she still knows it's a lie. She knows he's lying and he knows that she knows he's lying, and somehow it works, it's their own status quo. "And there's a case of Lafite Rothschild 1982 waiting at the end," Oliver finishes.

Felicity pauses. “Oh,” She practically moans because, “I _love_ red wine.”

Oliver's eyes shoot to the top of his forehead at her reaction, but then his expression shifts into something that looks like fondness when he says, “Red wine and coffee, right?”

Felicity’s brows furrow together but then she remembers her words from a lifetime ago — _“I know I'm eighteen and beer is supposed to be the be all end all, but I'd much rather red wine or coffee"_ — and her eyes widen because she cannot believe he remembers that.

Obviously reading her surprise, Oliver clears his throat. "But to find it, I first need to get through this." Oliver continues, holding out a small black device to her.  

Felicity accepts the mystery readily. "It's a security fob," She explains as she uncaps the end, exposing the USB port before she plugs the device into her computer, her brow furrowing once more when it immediately brings her to a login screen. "It's pin protected. The challenge response goes back to a company called Blackhawk Squad Protection Group, who I've actually done work for in the past." Felicity stares at Oliver. "And you say this is for a  _scavenger hunt?_ "

Oliver shrugs a shoulder from where he's looking over her shoulder. "Yeah. My friend had his bodyguards set it up for him. Personally, I think it's cheating... but, whatever."

Felicity sneaks a glance at him before her canary yellow nails dance across the keyboard. "This is a military grade cryptographic security protocol." She doesn't bother to keep the skepticism out of her voice when she turns her head, smiling at him over her shoulder. "Your _friend_ really went to all this trouble?"

"The idle rich are hard to entertain." Oliver points out with a shrug, his self-deprecating smile spot-on. "Listen," He says, "You get through it, and one of those bottles of wine is yours." Oliver aims his best panty-dropping smile her way before he brushes his calloused hand against her arm and leaves the office, and she immediately hates the way her heart flutters because she knows it's bullshit, all of it, but there's no denying he still has the Oliver-Appeal.

She spends the rest of the day focusing her attention on the mystery in front of her, and, when she finally breaks through the encryption, she calls Oliver. "I think your friend's bodyguard gave him the wrong security fob," Felicity says after Oliver asks her what she found, tone dry because, "Once I got past Blackhawk's authentication system, there wasn't _anything_ about a scavenger hunt. Just a directory and... well, I think you stumbled onto, or got _me_ to stumble onto, something pretty illegal."

"Define illegal," Oliver frowns, his voice hard and clipped. 

"Oh, you know, robbing an armored car with grenade launchers and tear gas."

"Wha-what?" Oliver asks, sounding genuine in his surprise, then says, "Felicity, I don't _—_ "

"Someone at Blackhawk was using their system to store detailed routes and schedules for each of the city's seven major armored car carriers. Including the three that have already been hit." Felicity pauses because she's already made a decision, but she _knows_ Quentin is going to be so mad. The topic of Oliver Queen never fails to make him, well, _hissy_. "Oliver, I think we should provide this information to the police. My mother's dating a detective with the SCPD. With this information, he should be able to predict the next heist."

"Felicity... I don't want to get you in trouble with my friend." Oliver says, and it's obvious he doesn't want her to go to the police, and his tone is dark and clipped and she cannot help but wonder if it's because his  _green_ is showing. She is 83% certain Oliver Queen's the vigilante; or, at the very least, 83% sure he’s in cahoots with the vigilante. "So, do me a favor. Forward that directory onto me and I'll take it to the police personally. Thank you."

Felicity huffs when the line goes dead, and then she slouches back in her seat and frowns at her phone ruefully. "So, no wine then," She complains, because _wine_.

Noah calls her ten minutes later to let her know that he's on the way, and she mentally curses because she forgot her father invited her to join him for dinner tonight at Table Salt. She pushes all thoughts of Oliver Queen from her mind, enjoying being the center of her father's attention, and afterwards she returns to Smoak Tech, intending to catch up on the work she put aside while breaking down the encryption on the security fob.

"Mister _—_ _Oliver_ ," Felicity corrects when she finds him waiting for her, frowning when he offers her a tight smile and hands her a bottle of wine. She knows without looking at the label that it's a bottle of Lafite Rothschild 1982. "What's this?" She asks.

"I owe you a bottle of wine," Oliver explains simply, his expression softening when she blinks at him.

"But there was no scavenger hunt," Felicity says, mouth curved into a frown when Oliver arches an eyebrow. "Oliver, I may be blonde _—_ "

"You dye it," Oliver interrupts, impossibly blue eyes twinkling in amusement when she stutters to a stop, his smile wide when she gives him the stink-eye.

"Either way, I may be _blonde_ , but I'm not _that_ blonde." Felicity continues, placing the bottle of wine on her desk before she crosses her arms over her chest. "And you've dropped some fairly ridiculous lies on me. So, tell me the truth, Oliver. Why me? Why do you keep bringing these ridiculous tasks to me when Queen Consolidated _—_ "

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" Oliver asks, words leaving his mouth in a rush, and she blinks at him in confusion because _what the frack?_

"I'm being serious, Oliver," Felicity nearly growls because she's not going to let him distract her this time, not to mention she doesn't want to think about how complicated her life would become if she were to have _dinner_ with _Oliver Queen_. Her mother, she knows, would probably squeal in delight because Donna's always had a soft spot for Oliver. Quentin would probably have a heart attack. And Laurel? Well, Felicity's not entirely sure what Laurel's reaction would be, but she's not entirely sure she wants to find out. If there's one person she doesn't want to piss off, it's Dinah Laurel Lance.

"So am I," Oliver insists, walking closer, and then he says, "You asked why I keep bringing this ridiculous tasks to you when I could ask any number of people at Queen Consolidated because my last name is Queen, and it's because... because there's just something about you, Felicity." It's not a lie, Felicity knows, but it's not the whole truth either. "Have dinner with me."

"I don't want to read too much into this," Felicity frowns, brow creasing as she closes the distance between them, "But are you asking me out on a date? Like an actual date?" Because it's entirely possible he's asking her out to dinner because he wants to thank her, not date her. Which makes more sense, actually, because the two of them are  _unthinkable._ "Like a _date-date_."

"Su _—_ I mean, the implication being with dinner that you," Oliver trips over his words, and her eyes widen _._

"Usually I'm the one talking in sentence fragments," Felicity points out, unable to stop her smile.

"Would you like to go to dinner with me?" Oliver asks again, this time more confident, then he descends into a babble that is entirely too adorable for her to be expected to resist. "Or how about a drink? Not now, obviously. But would you maybe...? I'll take you out for _—_ would you like to have dinner with me? Felicity? I don't know if you remember but I was on a deserted island for five years an I am  _totally_ out of practice at this."

"Well, dinner would be nice." Felicity smiles, chewing on her bottom lip, indecision warring inside her because her life is about to become so totally complicated. Oliver Queen is trouble but, well, Felicity has come to learn that she  _likes_ trouble. "In fact," She continues when she sees surprise flash in his impossibly blue eyes, as if he expected her to turn him down, and then his mouth curves into the honest smile she remembers from _before_. "I can probably make myself free tomorrow."

Oliver leaves quickly after that and she settles in to catch up on work, but it's almost as if Oliver's short-circuited her brain and she's unable to focus on the code in front of her, because _holy frack_. She has a date with Oliver Queen. "Laurel, hey, you're here." Felicity says the next day, chewing on her pink bottom lip when she walks up to her friend's desk at CRNI, because she's decided to come clean about all things Oliver. She doesn't want Laurel to find out about their date because someone flashes their picture later; she doesn't want her friend to feel like she's been lying. "I mean, of course you're here. You work here and you clearly love it here."

Laurel looks at her, an expression of true fondness crossing over her face. "Hello, Felicity, let me just grab my purse and we can go get coffee." Her eyes sweep over Felicity, noticing the way the blonde fidgets with her fingers and practically vibrates on the spot before she places her hands on her friend's shoulders, squeezing gently. "Though, maybe you should get decaf?"

"Decaf isn't _coffee_ , Laurel." Felicity frowns, true horror etched into her face, and her indignation over the mere suggestion of drinking fake-coffee jolts her out of her state of panic until they're down the street at their usual coffee shop, sitting at their usual table in the corner. "So, how's work? Mom mentioned Quentin's sulking because you're going after some heavy hitter and going to get yourself killed. Huh," Her brows furrow, "Typically Wednesday for you, though, isn't it?"

"Felicity," Laurel says patiently, wrapping her hands around her coffee cup, "You didn't invite me out for coffee to ask about work. Tell me what's wrong."

It sounds like a demand, but her eyes are shimmering with concern and love and a million other emotions, and it's easy to see all the things that made Laurel such an amazing big sister. Except she isn't a big sister anymore because her sister died while screwing Oliver Queen, Laurel's ex-boyfriend, who Felicity's about to confess to having dinner plans with, and _mother of google_ Laurel's going to kill her.

"Felicity," Laurel interrupts before she can spiral, her hand hovering over Felicity's before she grips it tightly, her hand still warm from holding her coffee. "Hey, talk to me."

"I just," Felicity clears her throat, staring out the window at the people walking by. "I don't want you to be mad. Or think I'm a terrible person."

"Felicity, I don't think there's a force on this earth that could make you a terrible person." Laurel says and it's obvious she means it.

"You say that _now_ ," Felicity mumbles under her breath before she inhales deeply, steeling herself before she blurts out the truth, "Oliver invited me to dinner. Your Oliver, obviously. Not that he's _your_ Oliver, because the idea that someone belongs to someone else is stupid, not to mention demeaning, but it feels like it applies here? I mean, it's _Oliver_. And he invited me to dinner, tonight, and I said yes. Hence the babble."

Laurel gazes off over her head to stare at the pieces of artwork that hang on the walls, her lips pursed as she processes the word vomit Felicity just threw at her, and then, without looking at the blonde, asks, "How long has this been going on?" There's tension in her voice, the same tension that's always there when someone alludes to her previous relationship with Oliver.

"Nothing is going on," Felicity assures Laurel once her friend meets her eyes. "He, well, I guess Walter recommended me to him when he needed help with his computer a couple of months ago, and he showed up at Smoak Tech. He shows up sometimes, asking for favors and tech help, and I awkward at him. But he invited me to dinner last night and, well, I didn't want it to be a _thing_. I didn't want you to find out from someone who is not me, though now I realize you're probably not the best person to talk to about this."

"Why? Is it because of the whole cheating, shipwreck, drowning, not drowning, he's back thing?" Laurel asks, something akin to a small smile pulling at her mouth. "Felicity, it's been over five years since I was with Ollie, and I've moved on. He has a right to move on, too. And if you want to go to dinner with him, if you want to _date_ him because he's someone managed to get past those walls you've built around your heart, then I will be the last person to stand in your way. Just promise me you'll be careful."

"Oh this conversation went 100% better than I thought it would," Felicity exhales shakily, her heart pounding in her chest because she half expected Laurel to storm out, and then she looks at Laurel, mouth quirked into a small smile. "Thank you. I know it's awkward and probably weird, this thing between me and Oliver, but I just want you to know that _I_ know it can't be easy."

"Helping two people I care about?" Laurel smiles. "There's nothing easier."

Her attention turns to her phone when Oliver texts her, asking if she likes Italian, which she _loves_ , and she tells him that she'll meet him at the restaurant. Felicity hopes her idea will decrease the hysteria that would surely occur if people saw them arrive at the restaurant together and, when their server directs him to their table, she's momentarily thinks it's a pity Oliver has no desire to join his family's company because he looks _amazing_ in a suit.

It's awkward at first, their date, because there's so many different landmines to avoid, but eventually Oliver seems to relax when she realizes she isn't going to ask about his time on Lian Yu. It's his story to tell, and she'll be there if he ever wants to tell her about those five years, but she also isn't going to demand he let her in.

"The entire time I was gone, I only had one goal: survive." Oliver says eventually when she makes a crack about having worst first dates, his voice hoarse, thick, "And when that goes on for so long you lose parts of yourself, and I think I lost the part of myself that enjoyed being alive. Then I walked into your office," He remembers the explosion of color when he walked into her office, stepping out of the shadows for the first time in so long. "You were the first person I could see as, as a _person._ There was just something about you."

Felicity's cheeks stain pink and she looks away, scratching at her temple. "Oh, yeah, I was chewing on a pen," She says self-deprecatingly when she remembers the babble that had tumbled out of her mouth following 'Felicity Smoak?... Hi, I'm Oliver Queen.'

Oliver's entire face softens as he stares at her, "It was red."

After dinner, they go out for ice-cream, and then he drops her off at home with a chaste kiss, and then they go on a second date and a third and before she knows it she is Oliver Queen’s _girlfriend_. He still asks her for ridiculous favours, but he stops dropping ridiculous lies on her. Instead she hacks something for him, or tracks down one of his _numerous_ long-lost "friends", and in return he takes her to the fusion place she’s always wanted to try and attends a science convention with her where she listens to Harrison Wells talk about the particle accelerator he hopes will be operational by sometime next year.

When they’re at Big Belly Burger, watching John Diggle stammer his way through asking Carly out on a date, her mother calls to remind her about the gala the city’s hosting tonight in honor of the SCPD. Felicity _swears_ this is the first time she’s heard of it and she cannot help the way annoyance seeps into her voice when she says, “Mom, to send a text, you actually have to hit _SEND_ on the text.”

Oliver offers to be her plus-one, even though she knows how much he hates social events where people stare and whisper about _the castaway_ , and they walk into the museum hand in hand later that night. Oliver looks attractive as always but, based on the way his eyes darkened when he picked her up, Felicity thinks he’s just as fond of her lilac Monique Lhuillier gown.

Felicity and Oliver make their rounds, working in tandem as they search out particular faces, speaking highly of the SCPD. They talk about the work they’re doing, expertly sidestepping the topic of Oliver's previous relationship with Laurel Lance when needed, and Felicity cannot help but notice the plastic quality to Oliver’s smile when someone offers their opinion on Starling’s vigilante.

Still, they make it through their rounds without issue, which isn’t surprising because he’s Oliver _Queen_ and she feels as comfortable in this setting as she does in her sky-high pumps. Felicity has been attending these functions with Noah since she moved to Starling City.

When they run into Laurel and Tommy, Felicity tenses because _awkward_ , but while there is awkwardness between the four of them there’s no tension, which is why she asks, “So, you guys want to go on a double date sometime or – no?" She rushes to add when Laurel's smile turns stiff and Tommy looks like a deer caught in the headlights, eyes flickering to Oliver. "Too awkward? Cool.”

Laurel purses her lips and they make small talk, only for the lawyer to pause when she sees her father.

Quentin's fingers drum down Donna’s back as they sway on the dance floor, both bright-eyed and smiling.

"I feel like the parent chaperoning their child's high school dance," Laurel blinks, but she’s thankful her father has found happiness with Donna. _"It's like Dad got on that boat with Sara,"_ she'd said once _, "And he's been slowly drowning after all these years. But Donna brought him home, Felicity. She's his lighthouse; the one that lights his way."_

Felicity makes a face, “It’s sweet, in a sickening vomit-inducing sort of way.”

Laurel and Tommy leave when she sees DA Spencer, the woman is practically Laurel's nemesis since Cyrus Vanch was let out of Iron Heights, and then Oliver looks to her with a smile, asking if she wants to dance. Felicity's mouth quirks into a smile before she tips her head to the side. "Dancing? I thought you didn't dance?" She asks, brows furrowed in confusion even when he reaches for her hand, leading her to the middle of the dance floor.

"Only with the right partner," Oliver says when she turns to face him, blue eyes twinkling, and then he brings her in close, his fingers stroking soothingly over the small of her back. For a while, all they do is sway together, a simple dance that keeps them close. He twirls her a few times, stealing her breath each time, and he cannot help but think she looks beautiful when her cheeks are flushed with wine and happiness. "You're good at this," He notes.

"I'm good at a lot of things," Felicity quips as he guides her back into his arms, leaving them chest to chest, then her eyes widen when she hears the _suggestion_ in her words. "Non-sexual things, I mean. Not that, not that I'm not good at those things too, but that wasn't what I—" His low chuckle cuts her off, and she drops her forehead to his shoulder. "Do you think there will ever come a time when my brain doesn't think of the absolute worst way to say things?"

"I hope not," Oliver says honestly, looking down at her, "It's one of your more charming traits." He opens his mouth to say something else but, whatever it is, is cut off when her stomach decides to growl. Her cheeks flush because _mother of google_ but Oliver simply looks amused when he asks, "Want to get out of here and get some _real_ food?" His dimple appears when he smiles and she practically swoons because yes, good idea, go somewhere where he'll take off his coat and she can appreciate the suspenders while also having delicious sustenance. "Big Belly is still open."

Felicity nods and says goodbye to her mother and then, because Quentin looks so miserable, splitting time between pouting and scowling at Oliver, Felicity leans up to press a kiss to his scruffy cheek before heading to Big Belly Burger. They both order a Big Belly Buster and milkshake, hers is vanilla while Oliver orders chocolate, and then they order onion rings and fries to share. It's surprisingly honest, given the multitude of taboo subjects that exist between them, not limited to the lies he's told her and Sara, but something must show on her face because Oliver asks her what's wrong, explaining, "You have that crinkle between your eyebrows?" He offers as an explanation.

Felicity's about to tell him about everything's been weighing on her mind (Sara, the ridiculous lies he's told her since he returned to Starling City, her suspicions about where he goes at night, her theories about what _actually_ caused those scratches on his face last week when he picked her up from work) but then Digg's there, like always, a constant shadow at Oliver's side, saying, "Excuse me, Mr. Queen? Your contractor called, he needs you to head to the club."

Digg walks away and Oliver sighs, "Felicity, I hate to duck out on you again but—"

"No. It's fine. It sounds serious, whatever it is." Oliver's brow furrows together, making him look like an adorably confused puppy, and she says, "It's after midnight and I'm not an idiot, Oliver." His mouth begins to open, probably to offer up some lame excuse, but she cuts him off. "No. You don't need to tell me your deep, dark secrets until you're ready, if you ever are." With a half-smile, she adds, "Just don't drop another _ridiculous_ lie on me, okay?"

He stares at her. "Felicity… I need you to trust me."

"I do," Felicity says, and it's not a lie because ridiculous lies or no, she _does_ trust Oliver. "And I meant it when I said you don't need to tell me your secrets until you're ready. I trust you, but I also want _you_ to trust _me_. I want you to be honest with me."

Oliver shakes his head faintly and lets out a heavy sigh. "I _do_ trust you, Felicity. But there's things that I've had to do, things that I still _have_ to do, that I'm not ready to talk about, not with you, not with anyone." He covers her hand, his fingers stretched over her own. "But if you ask me to tell you the truth… _I will_. I'll tell you everything."

Felicity nods. "Okay."

He frowns. "Okay?"

"Okay." Felicity smiles. If Oliver said that he would tell her the truth about everything, then she believes him. At the same time, she wants him to come to her when he's ready, not because she gave him an ultimatum. "Tell me when you're ready." Oliver's expression softens and she continues, "Just, in the mean time, if you _ever_ need to tell someone about your day, you can tell me."

"There's no one else I'd rather tell," Oliver says, sincere.

Felicity nods, "It's probably better not to keep Digg waiting."

Oliver nods. He presses a chaste but firm kiss to her mouth, then he's gone.

She's sure that Oliver meant to tell her the truth in his own time, but he never gets the chance, because all of her suspicions and questions are answered when she finds him aiming an arrow at her father's heart. Felicity walks towards her father's office in Queen Consolidated, her leather pumps click-clacking against the marble floor, fully intending on convincing her father to leave the office. She has it all planned, she's going to lock him out of his computer and, only when he eats and showers and has a nap, will she give him the password.

Felicity just steps out of the executive elevator when she hears a window shatter, broken glass spraying everywhere, crunching under a pair of heavy boots when the vigilante lands in a couch. "Noah Kuttler," the Hood announces, his voice a thick growl under the voice modulator, and Felicity freezes at the sound, heart pounding while hesitation wars within her until the vigilante raises his bow, "You have  _failed this city_."

Felicity doesn't think, she acts.

"Don't!" Felicity shouts, rushing into the office, and her shout distracts the vigilante enough for her to dart around him, effectively putting her between the vigilante and Noah. "Please, whatever he's done, don't do this." She pleads, a jolt of fear stabbing her in the heart when the vigilante tenses, his eyes trained solely on her, but she has to believe that he won't hurt her. " _Please_ ," She rasps.

"Felicity, go," Noah shouts, "Get out of here."

Felicity ignores her father. "He's my father," She adds.

"He's a _criminal._ He's wanted by the police and the FBI, countless lives have been ruined by his hacks over the years," the vigilante argues and then he fires a father, causing him to shout in alarm when the gun he'd retrieved from his desk is shot out of his hands. "Noah Kuttler," He growls, grabbing anther arrow and aiming the bow again, " _Don't move_."

A tear runs down Felicity's cheek as everything about their move to Starling City suddenly makes sense -- _I know I don’t understand half of your techno-babble but the police are looking for you,_ her mother had shouted, _The FBI is looking for you, Noah --_ but she still cannot let this man hurt Noah; he's not a perfect father, but he's still hers. "That doesn't mean you have a right to be judge, jury, and executioner." Felicity says firmly, and the vigilante freezes. "I mean, has it ever occurred to you that you could do some real good in this city? Beyond just recovering people's stock portfolios and their saving accounts."

The vigilante stares and her and it's the longest moment of her life and she doesn't dare move, but he does lower the bow marginally as he stares at her, not breathing. It gives her the courage to continue, and she steps closer to him, saying, "If he's wanted by the police, then _the police_ should be the ones to take him in and if he's failed this city, then the people of this city should be the ones to judge him. If you hand over the evidence to the police, _I swear_ he won't run, just please don't kill him," she asks, her voice cracking.

His shoulders fall and he slowly lowers the bow, inch by inch, until it's aimed at the floor, his hold on the weapon lose. "If he runs--" He starts.

"He won't," Felicity interrupts, and then she faces the truth that's been staring her in the face for months now, "You told me to trust you, and I did." Felicity insists, her voice a whisper only for the vigilante to hear, and the arrow he'd been holding clatters to the floor with a heavy ding as he backs away from her, startled. "I trusted you," She repeats, vision blurred by tears. "Now I need you to trust me."

"Felicity," Oliver whispers, closing his eyes, and she responds in kind, " _Oliver_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This au did not turn out the way I wanted, alas I've rewritten it no less than three times and it's still not where I wanted it, but I just _can't_ look at it anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

_vi._

Felicity paces the length of the corridor, chewing on her thumb nail, a nervous habit leftover from her childhood, spitting out the flakes of dark green nail polish that come off as she does so, waiting to see Cooper. She knows she must look like a complete and total wreck; she hasn’t been eating and she hasn’t really been sleeping, consumed by guilt, because this is all _her_ fault.

Cooper’s the one that erased the student loans, yes, but she’s the one that created the x-axis bi-numeric Algorithm.

Felicity doesn’t know how much time passes, doesn’t know how many times she walks the length of the hallway, but one of the prison guards finally come to retrieve her. “You have ten minutes,” She says gruffly, eyes narrowed, but for once in her life Felicity chokes down the attitude that wants to escape her purple mouth because she doesn’t want to compromise this.

This is the first time they’ve let her see Cooper since he was arrested.

Besides, Felicity won’t need ten minutes. She only needs five.

Long enough to say goodbye.

" _Coop_ ," Felicity practically sobs when she sees him, reaching for the phone and pressing it to her ear so hard it hurts, her heart aching in her chest because he looks horrible and he looks wonderful. It's clear that he hasn't slept, much like she hasn't, and it's on the tip of her tongue to tell him that he looks like shit because he hadn't looked _this_ bad during their finals last semester, but there's more important things to talk about. "Are you okay?" She asks, voice hoarse and thick.

With a wry twist to his lips, Cooper offers her a poor attempt at his usual smirk. "I've been better," He says, then he runs his gaze over her in an exaggerated fashion that has her snorting because dear god dear lord her boyfriend is an _idiot_. He is _actually_ the dumbest smart person she's ever met. "Seeing your beautiful face helps," He admits, his words just a little too honest to be teasing.

Felicity remembers her own horror that morning when she looked in the mirror and saw her reflection, so she thinks it's sweet that he still thinks she's beautiful, but there's another part of her that wants to rip him apart because he should be taking this more seriously. "Look, Coop," Felicity says, suddenly serious, her blue eyes wide and imploring, begging him to listen to her. "We have to talk about what you're going to tell them."

"I've talked it over with Myron," Cooper assures her quietly, and it _infuriates_ her that he's making decisions without consulting her first because they're _partners_ dammit. "And I'm going to tell them that _I_ wrote the super virus," He says, bracing himself for her anger, her hatred.

"It's an x-axis bi-numeric Algorithm." Felicity mutters angrily, but then she realizes what he just said and her eyes narrow dangerously, incredulously, because he's so stupid and so brave and she wants nothing more than to kiss him because she never thought she could love someone like this, not with the walls she built around her fragile heart after she lost Noah. "You can't do that," She protests, because of course she does, that's what she does. "I _can't_ let you rot in prison, Coop. Not for me."

"I'm the one that wiped out those loans, Felicity," Cooper argues, dead serious. "I always said I'd protect you from the grues."

" _Cooper_ ," Felicity hisses because this is serious and she can't, _won't,_ let him to do this. "This is serious. You can't—"

"There is no reason both of us should be in prison, Fee." He interrupts, his expression softening. "I love you."

Felicity hiccups, pressing her hand against the glass, mouth quirking in amusement when he presses his own hand against the glass. "I love you, too, Coop," Felicity murmurs, infusing as much love and devotion as she can into her words because she needs him to believe her. "That's why you can't tell them you wrote the virus," Cooper's mouth opens to argue, but she cuts him off. "Because I already told them the truth. I told them it was _my_ virus."

Cooper shakes his head frantically, pain etched into his every feature, and then, brokenly, he says, "It's an x-axis bi-numeric Algorithm."

Felicity chokes out a broken laugh, desperately wishes there was no glass separating them, and then she startles when the guard comes back into the room to tell inform her that her time is up. It doesn't feel like it's been ten minutes, but forever wouldn't be long enough, and Felicity aims one more smile at the heart-broken Cooper. "I love you," She vows, staring into his grey-green eyes, and then the guard is gripping her bicep and dragging her away.

Felicity's leaning against the grey concrete wall, clad in an orange jumpsuit and awaiting sentencing the first time she meets Amanda Waller. "Who the hell are _you_ ," Felicity snarls, tensing as she jumps to her feet, because everything about the woman _screams_ heartless government goon and it cannot bode well for Felicity that one is seeking her out _now_.

"My name is Amanda Waller," Waller introduces, mouth curved into a shark-like smile, and everything about the woman is cold and proficient. Her hair is pulled tight in a low bun, her body is clad in trousers and buttoned blouse, and the heels she's wearing are deadly, rivaling the sky-high heels that Felicity has seen her mother wear over the years. "I'm the Director of Advanced Research Group United Support. _ARGUS._ "

Felicity tilts her chin in that impossible stubborn way of hers, donning her attitude like armor, all practiced insolence and disobedience. “Never heard of it,” She sneers, despite the way her heart pounds, because if she’s learned anything from those spy movies Cooper has forced her to watch over the course of their relationship, it’s that it is _never_ good when an unknown government acronym walks out of the shadows with an offer you can’t refuse.

“If you had, it'd mean I’m not doing my job well enough.” Waller smirks, walking closer to the cell, reaching out to curl her fingers around one of the bars. “But I’ve heard quite a bit about you. Felicity Smoak, Las Vegas born, daughter to Donna Smoak and Noah Kuttler. _Clearly_ ,” She muses, eyes sharp, “It appears the apple didn’t fall too far from the hacker tree. Your poor mother, think of what it will do to her when she finds out you’ve been arrested for cyber crimes.” Waller clicks her tongue. “Why, I say it’s going to break her heart.”

Felicity’s mouth quivers because, if there’s one thing she doesn’t want to do, it’s hurt Donna. Felicity has absolutely nothing in common with her mother, and spent more than half of her childhood 83% sure she was adopted or switched at birth or _something_ , but she loves her mother and she isn't blind to everything her mother has done for her over the years. Donna's sacrificed _so_ much, working sixty-hour weeks in six-inch heels for tips to raise her genius daughter; the one that always reminded her so much of the husband that abandoned her, abandoned _them_.

 _“I’m not as smart as you, Felicity, or your father. Even when you were only six-years-old I could barely keep up with you two,”_ Donna shrugged after one of their worst arguments, self-deprecating smile in place. _“And maybe I wasn’t always the parent you wanted, but I was there. I stayed and I tried. But, when I look at you, all I see is what Noah gave you. There is nothing of_ me _in you.”_

Felicity's hands curl into fists and the urge to fight flares to life in her chest. "Make your point," Felicity snaps, snarling as she stalks to the cell bars, her blue eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "I'm sure you didn't wander down here just to make childish jabs, _Director_ ," the way she snarls the title makes it sound like an insult, which it is, because she's never been fond of authority figures.

Waller's brown eyes sweep over her, from her head down to her toes, in an appraising manner. "ARGUS is a special opts division of the government. We take down terrorist threats in secrecy and without public knowledge,” Waller says finally, eyes calculating, and then she arches an eyebrow. “We have use for someone of your… _skill set_. So, I am here to make you an offer, Ms. Smoak, one I think you’ll find very lucrative.”."

"Let me guess," Felicity drawls, "It's an offer I can't refuse."

Waller doesn't acknowledge that she's spoken. "The deal is this, Ms. Smoak: you come to work for me at ARGUS. You will work off a five-year sentence utilizing your exceptional skills instead of wasting away in a penitentiary. Then, when your sentence is served, you will have the option to go free or to continue working for me." She holds a hand through the cell bars. "Do we have a deal, Ms. Smoak?"

Felicity is smart and knows a good deal when she sees one, but her mother has always taught her to never put all of her cards on the table during negotiations, so what she says is: "You have my attention," She allows, ignoring the extended hand by crossing her arms over her chest, her chin tilted in that impossibly brave way she's always had. "But if I'm going to agree to being your jack-booted lackey by joining your super-secret goon squad, then I have conditions of my own."

Waller’s eyebrow arches and her hand falls back to her side. “You have gumption, Ms. Smoak.” Her mouth curves into an amused, shark-like smirk, and it becomes obvious to Felicity that she is about to make a deal with the devil incarnate. “What are your conditions?”

Felicity's conditions are simple: she doesn't want her mother to know that she's been arrested for cyber crimes, as far as Donna will know, the government recruited her daughter when she graduated from MIT; and, second, she wants to finish her Masters. She has one month of classes left and she has worked very hard to get where she is and, if she's going to be able to walk free once she's served out her sentence (that sounds a little _too good_ to be true to Felicity, but what does she have to lose?), then she wants to be equipped with the credentials to be more than some overqualified IT-Girl working at Tech Village.

"You have yourself a deal, Ms. Smoak." Waller eventually agrees, holding out her hand once more, and this time Felicity shakes it without hesitation. ARGUS makes all record of her arrest go away in record time and she's released into their custody within the hour and then taken to a safe house. She calls her mother to tell her the good news about the new job she's accepted, promising to call as often as she can.

Felicity doesn't care what she must do to earn the privilege to call Donna.

She refuses to disappear from her mother's life completely.

Felicity absolutely refuses to become her father.

Being a member of ARGUS comes with all the hacking and extremely expensive tech Felicity expected, but it also comes with training that she didn't exactly expect because she's a _hacker,_ not some badass jack-booted _thug_. Felicity's tested mentally and physically ( _"You are a member of ARGUS,"_ Waller says simply when she balks at thought of training because she can't even do a chin-up, _"And to make sure that you’re prepared for the kinds of situations you'll be faced with, you will be trained for those situations."_ ) and before she knows it she knows the difference between a Glock 17 and a Ruger SR9. Felicity's always been like a sponge, learning quickly and absorbing all the knowledge she can get her hands on, and within a few months she knows weapons and interrogation techniques like the back of her hand.

But Waller wants to keep her close, almost like she's the woman's pet project.

Which means, when Waller goes back to Hong Kong, Felicity goes too.

It’s there she meets Oliver Queen, more than two years after he ‘ _died_.’

“Clearly the tales of your death have been exaggerated,” Felicity murmurs, eyes wide, and then she winces when she sees the amusement that flickers across his otherwise stony face. Oliver Queen’s handsome, even with his ridiculous grown out hair and raggedy clothes, and she thinks he’s even more devastatingly attractive than he was prior to the loss of the Queen’s Gambit.

Waller scowls at her with a long-suffering look, and then she addresses the room, but her eyes are trained on Maseo. “Ms. Smoak is to be your technical assistance. I am sure I don’t have to reiterate what will happen should you fail,” Waller says, the threat evident.

Maseo is to be both of their handlers until they take down Chien Na Wei.

Felicity can’t help but wonder what he did to end up on Waller’s shit list.

From that very first meetings, it's clear to see that neither Maseo _or_ Oliver trust her. Felicity doesn't entirely blame them for that, she'd probably think she was a mole put in place to report back to Amanda Waller too if she were in their position. Maseo never learns to trust her. His wife, Tatsu, doesn't either and makes it clear she wants the brunette hacker _nowhere near_ Akio.

But, surprisingly, with time, Oliver seems to trust her.

Or, at the very least, he’s amused by her verbal incontinence and unintentional double entendres.

“So,” Oliver asks one day, watching her tinker with a laptop, “How did a girl like you end up in a place like this?”

“That sounded suspiciously like a line, but, to answer your question, I did a stupid thing and I got caught. Actually, I _created_ this stupid super-virus and my boyfriend used it to do a stupid thing and got caught. But it was _my_ virus. So ARGUS offered me the chance to work off my sentence instead of going to prison." Felicity answers honestly, head tilted to the side, brows furrowed, her red lips pursing into a thoughtful frown with her next words. "Which is probably for the best; I didn’t see myself doing well in Guantanamo Bay.”

Oliver nods, in thanks for her honesty, and the rest is history. Felicity's not entirely sure why a man with trust issues decides to place his trust in her, but she's not about to question it, especially since he's offering her the closest thing to friendship she's had since she threw in with ARGUS, but she rethinks her stance when he _murders_ a poor defenseless laptop. He brings her the bullet-ridden laptop and makes a quip about _spilling a latte on it_ when she asks what the hell he did to the poor tech, which earns him a scowl and the tiniest bit of her respect.

Felicity's always appreciated people who can sass her.

The next time Oliver and Maseo hit the streets, Oliver comes back with a security fob that is encrypted using a military grade cryptographic security protocol. It's impressive, truly, but she cracks the encryption in no time and he calls her remarkable, a note of sincerity that she's come to realize his tone always has when he's talking to her, and, to her absolute horror, it flusters her and her cheeks are stained pink when she says, "Thank you for remarking on it."

After that, it's almost like they're _actual_ friends. Oliver works out while she hacks and sits beside her on the floor when she tinkers with electronics, watching her fiddle with the wires with ease when she fixes the Yamashiro's television and radio and Akio's tablet. He asks questions every now and then, and he tells her about how his father was a pilot that used to do his own maintenance and Oliver used to help him, and how he liked it. "It's probably the only thing I was ever any good at," Oliver tells her with a self-deprecating smile in place, and she learns that, despite his horrid grades and the way he carries himself, Oliver Queen is _smart_.

Eventually, instead of sitting in silence, he starts to tell her stories about his home, about his mother and his best friend and the little sister that used to chase after him as a child, always eager for his attention. Then, after a storm results in him putting her in a choke-hold when she tries to wake him up from a nightmare, he starts to tell her about the island because, like she told him, _it doesn't have to be me but you have to let someone in, Oliver._ "My dad didn't die when the Gambit went down," Oliver whispers one night, voice hoarse, "We made it to the lifeboat together. Me, him, and a crew member, but there was only enough food for one, _maybe_ , so my dad shot crew member before he shot himself in the head, not _three feet_ from me. That's why I need to make it home. He died so that I can live, so I can make it home and fix his wrongs; so I can _save my city_."

Oliver has that same idealism that made her fall in love with Cooper, and even though it's ridiculous, Felicity feels herself start to develop feelings for Oliver Queen. It's inconvenient and infuriating because the very notion is unthinkable. There is no life, no version of reality, where her and Oliver _together_ is anything short of _ridiculous_. Oliver Queen's type consists of leggy model types and he's going to spend the rest of his life hopelessly and tragically in love with Laurel Lance.

Felicity's 100% sure about her place in Oliver's life, she is the friend and the IT-Girl, not the love interest, but then Waller sends them undercover when they get word about a nightclub that's really a front for the Triad. Overall, the play is simple, Oliver's going to play the self-entitled party boy that he used to be, Maseo will pose as his bodyguard, while Felicity will spend the night playing Bond-Girl instead of Q.

“I don’t understand how my mother _walked_ in these things sixty-hours a week,” Felicity grumbles as she walks out of the room she used to change into a navy-blue dress that hugs her curves in all the right places, scowling down at the jeweled high-heeled sandals that seem to scream _Donna Smoak_. “At least I’ll appear appropriately sloshed because there is no way I can walk a straight line in these stilts.”

“I’m sure you’ll —" Oliver’s words die on his tongue when he turns to look at her, and she’s too so busy noticing how distracting _he_ looks in a suit, that she completely misses the way his impossibly blue eyes darken as they roam over her figure. “Felicity,” He says finally, voice low and raspy, “You look remarkable.”

Felicity blinks and ignores the blush she feels staining her cheeks pink, murmuring, “Thank you for remarking on it.”

She feels _so totally_ out of her comfort zone the entire time they're in the club, nothing in her past as a hacktivist _or_ an ARGUS lackey has prepared her for being Oliver Queen's arm-candy, so she does her best to channel her inner Donna Smoak as they slip into the crowded club where numerous more-than-slightly inebriated people are dancing to the horrid club music blasting from the speakers. Oliver keeps his hand on the small of her back the entire night and it's, well, _nice_.

They find the back office easy enough and Felicity's fingers fly across the keyboard as she works her way through the Triad's directories. "Someone's coming," Maseo says over the comms from where he's positioned outside the office, hidden from view as he keeps an eye on the muscle and enforcers scattered throughout the club because as much as he doesn't like or trust _her_ , he likes and trusts Oliver.

"I'm almost there," Felicity murmurs, watching the files queue up to download, watching the download task bar slowly turns green. "Just a couple more minutes."

"Oliver, she needs to hurry up!" Maseo hisses into the comm in a way that raises her hackles because, _rude_ , she just said she needed a couple more minutes, not to mention it's just _demeaning_ the way he thinks Oliver can boss her around. She's about to say so when Oliver's there, his warm and calloused hand on her shoulder when he whispers into her ears, " _Fe-lic-ity_ , we have to go."

Felicity hears the security guard's approaching footsteps grow louder and, without putting too much thought into what she's doing, she clicks off the monitor and shoves Oliver into the office chair before she hikes up her skin-tight dress to straddle him. "Just go with it," Felicity hisses when Oliver begins to open his mouth in protest, to ask _what the fuck_ she's thinking, but she swallows his words when she presses her mouth to his.

Oliver's hands automatically go to her hips and she leans back, waiting for a reaction, and she smiles before she leans back him. His head tilts back with the force of the kiss and her tongue slides across his, but she cannot stop the way she shivers when one hand drifted up to tangle in her dark hair, the other curling around her ribs and coming to rest on the warm, bare skin of her back.

Oliver tenses beneath her when the door crashes open, but Felicity digs her dark blue nails into his shoulders in warning as she draws back and looks over her shoulder, simpering and giggling when she looks at the security guard. He's Triad, that much is obvious when he flashes his gun, saying, "You can't be in here. The party's outside."

"Sorry— just looking for a little privacy," Oliver stammers as she climbs off his lap, playing his part perfectly when his mouth curves into a smile that oozes used-car salesman-esque charm. He knows without checking that Felicity's managed to palm the jump-drive and and he leers at her retreating figure as she walks towards the door, and then he's patting the security guard on the shoulder and returning his hand to its place over the small over her back where it hovers before he carefully, hesitantly, settles it around her waist when he can stroke her hip. "A little warning next time?" Oliver asks, leaning close, looking like a lover (ugh, she hates that word, it sounds creepy no matter how you say it) whispering sweet-nothings into her ear.

"What makes you think there will _be_ a next time," Felicity snorts, eyebrow arched, "I'm not sure you'd be able to handle it."

Oliver sees Maseo waiting for them across the street but Felicity's looking at him, a flush in her cheeks and eyes bright with mirth, and Oliver says, "Perhaps _you're_ the one that couldn't handle it."

Felicity throws her head back and laughs at his words, her laugh a touch too loud and brassy for the image she's trying to portray as his flavor of the night and Bond Girl, but there's just _something_ about the flush in her cheeks and the challenge in her intelligent blue eyes that make him want to kiss her again, this time for real. But it's not the right time, or the right place, but he keeps his hand wrapped securely around her until they reach Maseo's car. Even then he doesn't remove his hand entirely, just moves it to her thigh. There's something about Felicity's presence that grounds him.

Felicity finds that, after their impromptu make-out session, Oliver's always  _touching_ her. A reassuring hand on her shoulder. A guiding hand hovering at the small of her back. A hand to her cheek as when he looks at her with that intense eye-thing he does, like he's x-raying her for injuries. Even the way he looks at her, blue eyes soft and damn near _adoring_ , feels oddly more intimate than it had before.

Their newfound ease and, dare she call it _happiness_ , does not last. Felicity rifles through the information they got off the computer and they learn that a biotechnology company has accidentally created a super-virus, called Omega, while attempting to create a new antibiotic, and that one vial has the ability to wipe out an entire city. Oliver and Maseo break into the initial company, BTHK Biotech, while Felicity hacks into the security footage. "It's not here, Felicity," Oliver announces through the comm and Felicity starts to think she needs a code-name as she watches the recent footage, eyes narrowed as she watches a scientist steal the damned virus for Chien Na Wei.

Felicity's not sure how, she knows she covered her tracks when she was rooting through their system, but Chien Na Wei finds out, and she attacks them where they live. Akio's in tears when the three of them make their way back to Maseo's apartment, signs of struggle visible from the blood on the floor to the destroyed furniture, and Maseo's voice breaks when he asks his son where Tatsu is. "The white-haired woman," Akio sobs, his face pressed into his father's neck, "She _took her_."

Waller's unconcerned with Tatsu's disappearance, just like Felicity knew she would be, and instead wants Oliver and Maseo to focus their intention on retrieving the other half of the virus. They fail, and the Triad get the other half of the virus, but only because Oliver chooses to plant a tracker on the one of Chien Na Wei's thugs instead. "We're getting Tatsu back," Oliver tells Maseo firmly, who looks close to tears when he thanks his friend, claiming, "I will forever be in your debt for this, Oliver."

Tatsu is alive when they find her, which is surprising, but wonderful, and the Yamashiros make the decision to flee to Shanghai.

Oliver's expression is torn when he looks at Felicity, but she tells him to run. "Get out of here, Oliver." Felicity orders when he hesitates, attempting to shove him in the direction of the door as fear coils around her heart at the mere _thought_ of what Waller will do to find the Yamashiro's. "I'll do everything I can to hold off Waller," She promises, "But you _have_ to get in contact with Moira." Amanda Waller's power lies in the fact that no one knows Oliver's alive. If he talks to her mother, if people learn that he's _alive_ , then he's untouchable.

Oliver listens, he runs, but Waller catches him before he can make contact with his mother, and then they torture him to uncover Maseo's location, and Felicity feels the simmering hatred she's always had for Amanda Waller burst into a roaring fire. Felicity tries to get to Oliver, but she's stopped by one of Waller's thugs, and she reacts by jamming the heel of her foot down onto his instep, before punching him in the throat and kneeing him in his jewels.

"Emotions are nothing but a distraction, Ms. Smoak," Waller scolds afterward, narrowed eyes cold, "You're ruled by them, but you need to learn to control them."

Felicity _hates_ Amanda Waller, in a way that she's never hated someone before, but she realizes too late the truth behind the saying ‘better the devil you know’ when she meets General Matthew Shrieve. He calls Oliver and Maseo heroes when they manage to secure the virus, makes promises of freedom once he debriefs them, and Felicity tearfully says goodbye to Oliver. "If you're ever in Starling City, look me up." Oliver says playfully, but his eyes are sincere, and then he's pulling her to him, hugging her tightly. "There will _always_ be a place for you at Queen Consolidated," He promises.

But Shrieve betrays them, and he orders his men to kill Oliver and the Yamashiros.

At the same time, Shrieve attacks Amanda Waller, but Felicity pushes her out of the way.

She takes a bullet to the shoulder for Waller, and wonders if Stockholm Syndrome has kicked in.

Shrieve unleashes the virus, Akio dies, and Maseo and Tatsu both leave, heartbroken, but Oliver stays.

"I can't go back to Starling City, Felicity." Oliver tells her when she asks him why he's staying, why he would _ever_ willingly continue to work for ARGUS. "I _tortured_ Shrieve. Hell, after what he did, a part of me even _enjoyed_ it. I don't want that darkness around my mother or my sister." He swallows painfully, misery etched into his handsome features. "It's better if they think I died on the Gambit. I want them to remember me the way I was. I wasn't a good person, far from it in fact, but I wasn't a _monster_."

"You're not a monster _now_ , Oliver." Felicity protests angrily, a furrow forming between her brows while her red mouth pinches in displeasure. "And you are  _not_ alone, okay? Not Ever. You're my friend, and you're my partner, and you're the man that I l—" She stutters to a stop because Oliver's nowhere near the right mind-frame to hear her declarations, not after the tragedy of Hong Kong and the loss of Akio, and she's still not entirely sure it would matter because they're still _unthinkable_. "You're the man that I believe in," Felicity finishes. 

Oliver's blue eyes look impossibly _more_ blue and he looks close to tears when he slowly hugs her, cradling her against his chest like she's the most important person in his life, and then he's turning his face into her ink-black hair, breathing her in. " _Fe-lic-ity_ ," He says, her name a prayer on his lips, his voice a caress, and dear god dear lord he sounds so totally wrecked when he says, "Thank you."

For five months, all they have is each other, he trains her in hand-to-hand combat and she does everything in her power to keep his light, the one that's still inside of him after everything he's endured, everything he's  _suffered_ , from flickering out. Then Amanda Waller announces that she has a mission for Oliver. _Just_ Oliver. "I need you to embrace that killer instinct you've tried so hard to to suppress since you tortured Shrieve," Waller smirks, eyes flickering to Felicity, and then she turns her gaze back on Oliver. "A drug lord has stationed his operation on an island that you're well acquainted with."

Waller sends Oliver back to Lian Yu, his own personal hell, and she sends Felicity to London, then Budapest, Corto Maltese, Madrid... Waller plants her in various companies and organizations around the world, each one on ARGUS' radar because they recognize them as enemies, targets, and she falls down, down, _down_ into the rabbit hole as she ingratiates herself to them. Felicity has always been brilliant, but Waller's made her  _cunning_. As Overwatch, her newly minted code-name, Felicity is an irreplaceable resource to ARGUS.

It's sometime between Corto Maltese and Madrid that Felicity decides to don a mask, one she creates by updating her entire wardrobe with bright colors she wears like armor, and then she strips the black and purple dye from her hair, replacing it with a sunshine blonde that reminds her of Donna. Everyone underestimates a pretty blonde in a short skirt, Felicity knows, so that's what she becomes as she designs software and upgrades mainframes and overhauling security systems, all the while learning secrets for Waller.

Felicity quickly learns that the world is a dark place and, sometimes, you have to put your hands in the muck to make things right.

Sometimes you have to do something _bad_ to save the world from something _worst_.

Seven months after he returned to Lian Yu, Felicity sees Oliver again, and she listens outside the door as Waller tries to recruit Oliver for more missions around the world that will benefit ARGUS, but he claims that he made a promise to Taiana, whoever _that_ is, and he intends to keep it.

"Shado, Sara, now _Taiana_ ," Felicity muses as she walks into the room, and she cannot help the way her pink mouth curves into a smirk when she sees the complete _bafflement_ that etches into Oliver's features as he stares at her, "Are you sure this wasn't _fantasy island_ _?_ "

Waller leaves with _it was a pleasure, Mr. Queen_ and then suddenly the two of them are alone for the first time in seven months and, it pains Felicity to realize, she has never felt more _isolated_ from Oliver. 

"Felicity..." Oliver rasps, brows furrowed in a way that makes him look like an adorable puppy, but he's also frustrated and confused, Felicity can see it in the way he rubs the pad of his thumb over his index and middle fingers.

"I heard you're not sticking around," Felicity says lightly, but there's a fire in her eyes because he's her partner and now he's leaving, he's making the decision to leave her without talking to her, just like Cooper had when he decided to take the fall for her, just like Noah. "Which is, you know, disappointing. Amanda says we're headed to Bali tonight, and I hear Bali is beautiful this time of year. Not that Bali's ever _not_ beautiful, I guess, based on the pictures I've seen."

Oliver's confusion doubles, the furrow between his brows deepening when he asks, "When did she become _Amanda_?"

Felicity tilts her chin in that impossibly brave ways over. She has always met Oliver's eyes, making the two of them equals, and she is not about to cower before him _now_ when she sees the judgement seeping into his gaze. "You're been gone seven months, Oliver. A lot's happened," Felicity says simply, thinking about how she hadn't even _hesitated_ to blackmail the Detralink executive last week. "I've learned that sometimes you have to put your hands in the muck to make things right, and that there are bad people in this world that you have to stop no matter the cost. People like Shrieve." Felicity grits her teeth. "Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire, Oliver."

"I'm not worried about _them_ , Felicity, I'm worried about _you_." Oliver says, walking towards her, and then he's placing a hand on shoulder but, instead of the comfort it used to bring, now it feels like he's placing the weight of the world on her shoulders by placing her on a pedestal. "You are the best person I've ever known, Felicity. You have the purest heart. And I can't have you lose that. Okay? Not ever." Hand dropping, his eyes flicker over her face. "You promise me?"

Felicity backs away, shaking her head, blonde waves falling around her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Oliver. I _am_ ," She vows when she sees the frustration that mixes with concern and affection, warring across his face for dominance, and then he takes a step towards her, just one, before stopping. "I'm really hoping that someday you will be able to understand," Felicity says honestly before she turns to walk away.

"Don't count on it," Oliver says, the line of his harsh brow reflected in his tone and her stomach clenches. 

Years pass before she sees him again, but Felicity keep an eyes on Oliver. She follows his movements in Russia, her heart shattering in her chest when she learns that he's joined the _Bratva_ , but she erases all trace of his affiliation to the Bratva when pictures surface and, again, when there are reports of a masked man in a green hood. Then, over two years since she last saw him, his face appears on the news and she cries when she hears, " _Oliver Queen is_ alive. _The Starling City resident was found by fishermen in the North China Sea five days ago, five years after he was declared missing and presumed dead following the accident at sea which claimed the Queen's Gambit…"_

Oliver's back in Starling City, reunited with his family, and she follows the story whenever she has WiFi because it's the only way she can feel _close_ to Oliver. He's not home two days before he's kidnapped, and she almost sends ARGUS agents to save him and his friend Tommy, but in the end she doesn't have to because he's "saved" by a masked man in a green hood. If Felicity was sure he would answer, she'd call him just to _scold_ him, because Oliver Queen gets rescued from Purgatory, and then a man in a green hood arrives in Starling City. He needs to be more careful.

Felicity _does_ call when she hears about the Undertaking, about Tommy Merlyn, but his cell is not in service and when she calls his house, it's his sister who answers. "Ollie's not home," Thea Queen says simply, voice thick, coated with the loss and heartache and sense of betrayal she must be feeling in the wake of the Undertaking. "He needed some time away after... well, just _after_. So I think it's safe to say he won't be calling you back," steel enters her voice and then she orders, "Don't call here again," before she disconnects the call.

Felicity searches for Oliver, runs facial recognition and hacks every database and satellite she can think of, but he's nowhere to be found until, five months after the Undertaking, after both Oliver Queen _and_ the vigilante disappear for five months, Oliver Queen returns to Starling City.

The Arrow follows.

He's been home for five weeks when she runs into him, in Russia, of all places.

Felicity's the one that alerted Amanda Waller when Agent Lyla Michaels missed her last check-in, she's also the one that insisted Amanda send a team to retrieve Agent Michaels because Lyla is decent and good and irreplaceable, but Amanda refused and set the Arrow and his bodyguard on the trail instead. "I want you on the next plane to Russia, Ms. Smoak," Waller says afterwards and, thinking she's being sent to assist Oliver like old times, Felicity smiles, but then Waller continues. "Agent Michaels was in Russia tracking down a lead on Lawton. Sources say that he's in the same prison as Agent Michaels. I want you to retrieve him," She says, "I feel Mr. Lawton would be a good candidate for task force-x."

Frustration floods her veins, but Felicity does what she's told without protest, and purposely makes reservations for the hotel where she knows Oliver to be. Then, wearing a blood-red wrap dress and nude pumps, Felicity slows to a stop when she sees Oliver in the flesh for the first time since he left ARGUS. Her heart pounds in her chest and she contemplates leaving before he ever knows she was there, but she is Felicity Smoak, she is bold and brave and she has never cowered in the face of Oliver Queen, and she is not about to start now.

Felicity slides onto the chair beside him where he's sat at the bar, drinking vodka, and she knows he's worried about his partner because the pad of his thumb rubs over his index and middle fingers. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world," Felicity muses, her voice silky and seductive, and she takes pleasure in the way Oliver's head whips around to stare at her, blue eyes impossibly wide, his lips silently forming her name. "And Oliver Queen walks into mine," Felicity finishes, but then her brows furrow and she backtracks, "Well, actually, it's not mine. Obviously. And _vodka_ would be more apt, I suppose, since we're in Russia and you're actually drinking vodka."

Oliver laughs like he used to do after she babbled, right before he smiled, like she surprised it out of him. "Felicity," He exhales, almost a laugh, and then his brows furrow in confusion when he processes the fact that she's _here_. "What are you doing here? Waller made it clear that she wasn't willing to risk an international incident for Agent Michaels," Oliver says unnecessarily.

"I am not here to retrieve Agent Michaels," Felicity says honestly, flagging the bartender and requesting a glass of red wine before she says, "I'm here on another mission." Her mouth quirks into a smile of thanks when her wine is placed in front of her, and she downs half of the glass in a single gulp, and then she traces her finger along the top of the glass. "I was, I mean I _am_ , sorry about your mother, and Tommy." Felicity says without meeting his eyes, chewing on her bottom lip when she feels him stiffen beside her, "I tried to call, you know, _before_ , but when you didn't answer the first time I think I convinced myself that I was the last person you'd want to hear from. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms."

"That was my fault," Oliver admits, and he's still rubbing the pad of his thumb over his middle and index finger. "Waller had mentioned that you were going on _another_ mission and then you walked in and you weren't the same Felicity I left behind and," He exhales sharply tilting his head so he can catch her eyes, his mouth quirking into a small smile. "And I had a gut reaction because I knew what Waller could do, how she could twist someone up, and I just didn't want you to turn into _me_. I wasn't lying when I said I couldn't have you lose what makes you Felicity Smoak."

Felicity's mouth curves into an honest smile, but then the hairs on the back of her neck raise, and she looks to the door to see Isabel Rochev, who she knows to be Oliver's partner at Queen Consolidated, and her smile fades into a frown when she sees Isabel's annoyance and Oliver's defeated expression. "Sixty-four million," Felicity blurts, flushing when Oliver looks back at her with an arched eyebrow. "There are over sixty-four million women above the age of consent in Russia," Felicity continues, her eyes eyebrow arching when Oliver startles. "Don't complicate your life by sleeping with _that one_ , Oliver."

"It's not like that, Felicity." Oliver protests, but he's always been a crap liar. "It's just... because of the life that I lead, I think that it's better to _not_ be with someone I could really care about." It's clear from his expression that this is not a decision he has made lightly, and she wonders what loss was so unbearable that he built a wall around his heart, and it breaks her heart that he's convinced himself it's better to be alone. It's not, Felicity knows, because she's been alone _and_ lonely since she lost him.

"Well, _I_ think, I think you deserve better than that." Felicity says, finishing her wine, and then she's climbing to her feet and pressing a kiss to Oliver's scruffy cheek. "You're not an idiot, Oliver Queen." She says, infusing as much feeling and emotion as she can into her voice because even now he's the man that she believes in _and_ the man that she loves. "Don't let her turn you into one."

Isabel Rochev scowls at her when she walks past, and Felicity decides to keep a closer eye on the woman because something about her just  _looks_ evil, not unlike a super-villain, and she follows Oliver to the prison just in case he needs help getting Lyla and John Diggle out. She's not friends with Lyla, she's not friends with anyone within ARGUS, she doesn't  _trust_ them, but she respects Lyla. And, well, John Diggle is important to Oliver. That's enough for Felicity.

Oliver doesn't need her help, though, and after leaving Floyd Lawton on the side of the road, the three head to the airport to make their way back to Starling City. Felicity's careful not to startle Lawton when she approaches him, having read his file and about his history of PTSD, and then she makes him the same offer than Amanda Waller made her over four years ago. Waller's pleased when she successfully brings him into ARGUS to become a member of what Lawton coins the _Suicide Squad._

Moira Queen is released from prison and decides to run for Mayor.

Mirakuru runs rampant in Starling City because Slade Wilson is alive.

Then Slade kills Moira, in front of her  _children_ , and Sebastian Blood becomes Mayor.

Waller's twitchy, knowing that Slade Wilson has an army of mirakuru enhanced shoulders and makes the decision to order a drone strike on Starling City, which Felicity _refuses_ to let happen. But before she has a chance to come up with a plan, Lyla Michaels is there, asking for her help. "Waller's ordered a drone strike on Starling City," Lyla says in her no-nonsense tone that Felicity has always envied because even after all these years with ARGUS she _still_ hasn't mastered the whole control-your-emotions thing. "We cannot let that happen," She continues, "Follow me."

Felicity doesn't hesitate in following Lyla to a helicopter, doesn't even pause to think about how this could affect her and the deal she has with Waller and ARGUS, because this is _Oliver_ and there's no choice to make. "Yeah, well, Amanda Waller loves her drone strikes," Felicity murmurs as they make their way into the city and her brows furrow when they hover over an abandoned clock tower, but then she sees the mirakuru soldiers inside and, more importantly, she sees _Oliver_.

Lyla pulls out a rocket launcher from _who-knows-where_ and fires it at the clock tower once everyone is safely down the the cable (the way Thea's wrapped around her brother reminds Felicity _fondly_ of the time she and Oliver swung across an elevator shaft together once) and Oliver descends on Lyla the moment they're out of the helicopter, growling, "Lyla, your boss is going to _bomb the city_ at dawn."

Lyla doesn't back down and she doesn't cower in the face of Angry Arrow, and Felicity instantly decides that she the two of them should totally be friends assuming they don't die at dawn, but the tension lessens when John Diggle snorts, and Felicity instantly likes him. "Yeah, well," Diggle huffs, "Waller's never seen a problem she didn't think couldn't be solved with a drone strike."

"Why do you think I'm here?" Lyla asks, expression incredibly soft as she looks at Diggle.

Diggle's brows furrow, and it's entirely unfair that a man with arms like trees can look like such an adorably confused puppy, and then he asks, "You knew Waller was going to level the city and you came here anyway?" Diggle asks, like an idiot, because like hell Lyla would be anywhere but at his side at a time like this.

"You're here," Lyla points out, voice warm with affection, but there's steel there too, and yes, the two of them should be friends.

"You need to go back to ARGUS," Oliver orders firmly, looking to Lyla, "You need to stop Waller or buy us enough time to stop Slade."

"Not without me," John Diggle says firmly at the same time Felicity steps forward, head tilted to the side when she asks, "Where do you want me, Oliver?"

Oliver's eyes widen when he realizes she's there, but then his expression turns stony and he's stalking towards her, hand tightly wrapped around her arm as he directs her back to the helicopter. "You are going with them," Oliver orders, no room for argument in his voice. "This whole place is about to become a war zone, Felicity. I want you out of here. _Now._ "

"Well that's too bad, Oliver," Felicity snaps, yanking her arm from his hold.

"I'm sorry," Thea Queen says, confused frown in place as she stares at Felicity, "But who are you?"

Oliver ignores his sister. "Fe-lic-ity," Oliver growls, looking upwards as if praying for patience.

"No," She insists, crossing her arms, "If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving."

Oliver grits his teeth but he knows better than to order her around like an employee, she was his partner dammit, still considers _him_ to be _her_ partner, and he nods reluctantly before they head to the Arrow Cave (which Felicity thinks is a good name for his base of operations, despite Oliver's grumpy face) while Diggle and Lyla make their way to ARGUS.

Felicity helps Oliver, Roy, and Thea scrounge for as many weapons as they can find. "Especially the injection arrows," Oliver says. "We'll fill them with the cure, which clearly works," He adds, looking at Roy, and Felicity swears there are _tears_ in Thea Queen's eyes when she kisses her boyfriend's shoulder. "Slade has at least _fifty_ mirakuru soldiers and we need as many arrows as we can find."

"We need _an army_ if we plan on hittin' these guys with the cure, Oliver," Roy snarks while he dutifully fills the injection arrows with the cure from STAR Labs.

"Which is why an army is what I've brought," Nyssa Raatko, of all people, says as she walks into the Arrow Cave with at least two dozen assassins and Sara Lance.

Oliver doesn't want the League's help, doesn't want to have to pay the price, but Sara insists that she has already paid it, and then Nyssa announces that Slade Wilson has setup his base of operations at Queen Consolidated. "And that's not all, Ollie," Sara adds as she walks up to him, placing a hand on his forearm as she looks up at him. "I just got off the phone with my father. Slade took Laurel," She says, gritting her jaw, "He took my _sister_."

Felicity's not entirely surprised that Slade took Laurel, not if his plan is to destroy Oliver by targeting those that he loves, but then Oliver's reaching for Felicity's hand when she moves to follow the everyone else out of the Arrow Cave, fully prepared to wade into a war for the man beside her. "Wait," Oliver says, "I need to show you something first." Felicity's brows furrow, but Oliver insists, "Come with me? _Please._ "

Felicity nods, climbing onto the back of his motorcycle after he tells the others he'll meet them at Queen Consolidated in a half an hour, and then he's speeding off into the night, Felicity's arms wrapped around his waist while she presses her cheek into the middle of his back. He takes them outside the city and Felicity's confusion grows when she sees they're at Queen Manor, and her loud voice echoes through on the barren walls when he leads her inside. "Oliver," She shouts, confused, "What are we doing here? Your city's falling apart."

"I know," Oliver says, guiding her into the middle of the parlor, then he exhales before meeting her eyes. "I need you to stay here."

"What?" Felicity exhales, stalking up to him, brow furrowed because _no_. "Why?" She demands, shaking her head, "You can't just ask me-"

"I'm not asking," Oliver interrupts and she realizes he's completely serious, he expects her to _wait here_ , "I will come and get you when this is all over."

"No," Felicity says, following him when he tries to walk away from her. "No, Oliver."

" _Fe-lic-ity_..."

"No, not unless you tell me why."

Oliver frowns. "Because I need you to be safe."

"Well, I don't want to be safe, I want to be with you."

"I can't let that happen," Oliver shakes his head, and she realizes he's trembling.

"Oliver," Felicity says, her voice soothing now as she grasps his arm, "You're not making any sense."

"Slade targeted Thea, he, he killed my mother," He exhales. "And he's taken Laurel because he wants to kill the woman that I love."

Felicity's stomach clenches at the thought of Laurel still being the woman that he loves, but she nods, forces herself to say, "I know, so?"

"So Slade took the wrong woman," Oliver bursts, loudly, and she's not sure who is more surprised by his declaration because both their eyes widen. "He took the wrong woman," Oliver repeats, and then he's looking at her with that incredibly soft expression that she remembers so well from their time in Hong Kong. "I love _you_ , Felicity." He declares, and then he's pulling her into his arms before kissing her, his tongue sliding over hers then she opens her mouth to him, and this time it's for real, it's a _real_ kiss, unlike the one they shared at the nightclub in Hong Kong. "Do you understand," Oliver asks, and her heart shatters to pieces in her chest when he slides a syringe into her hands.

It was a fake kiss, and a fake _I love you_ , Felicity realizes, but she doesn't have time to fall apart now because Oliver is counting on her. "Yes," She rasps, tucking the cure into the pocket of her leather jacket. "I understand," Felicity promises because she understands how much the archer is putting at risk by leaving it up to her to ensure that Slade's injected with the cure, and then Oliver is gone.

Felicity doesn't have to wait long for Slade's men to come for her, and she wants to claw the man's eyes out when he meets her and makes a crack about Oliver usually preferring _stronger women_ , because if Slade Wilson thinks she's some wilting flower then she is going to show him her thorns. "She is quite lovely, kid, your Felicity," Slade snarls into a comm as he draws his blade and walks towards Felicity, and then he's using her as a human shield, holding a sword to her throat.

"He's going to stop you, you know," Felicity hisses, jaw tilted in her impossibly brave way.

"All in do time, _Fe-lic-ity_ ," Slade Wilson drawls, and she flinches because only Oliver is allowed to say her name like that, and then he adds, "But first, he'll bury you in the grave beside his mother."

Oliver answers the call in record time, bow drawn when he walks into the room.

"Twitch, and I will open your throat," Slade warns Felicity, and then he turns his manic smile towards Oliver. "Those were my first words to you, kid. Do you remember? I do. I remember that _exact_ moment, my blade against your throat, just like how my blade is now against the neck of your beloved." He tightens his hold on Felicity, squeezing the air from her lungs, and her stomach rolls when he nuzzles his nose against her temple. "I have spent countless nights dreaming of taking from you all you took from me."

"By killing the woman I love?" Oliver questions, his knuckles white beneath his gloves, and he tightens his hold on his bow. "Like you loved Shado, like you _still_ love Shado." His eyes narrow and he takes a step towards them, pausing when Slade tuts and increases the pressure on the blade until he draws blood. "You see her, don't you? And what does she say to you in your madness, Slade? Because I remember her being beautiful and kind." He exhales shakily, and then he delivers his final blow. "She would be _horrified_ by what you have done in her name."

"What I have done?" Slade demands, spit flying as he shouts, and then he forces Felicity to her knees, "What I have done is what you lack the courage to do! To _fight_ for her! Which is why, when _her_ body lies at your feet, her _blood_ wet against your skin," He snarls, curling a hand in her blonde hair and tugging, forcing her to look up at Oliver, "Then you will finally understand how I feel."

"I understand how you feel, Slade. I know what it's like to hate and to love," Oliver promises, eyes flickering to Felicity, "And now I know how it feels to see my enemy so _distracted_ that he fails to see that the real danger is right in front of him." It's the best opening she's going to get, so Felicity uses as much force as she can to push off her knees before she jabs the needle into Slade's neck, injecting the cure, and then Oliver's shouting, "Go, Felicity! Get out of here."

Sara and Nyssa are suddenly there, leading her and Laurel to safety, but Felicity all but ignores their presence as she chews on her thumb nail, spitting out the flakes of olive green nail polish that come off as she does so, and she swears she doesn't breath again until Oliver's voice crackles over the comms. "It's over," Oliver exhales in relief and then he's demanding that Amanda Waller calls off her drones, and Felicity takes off into a run when she sees him limping towards her. "Oh, _ow_ ," He hisses when she crashes against his chest, but he returns the hug just as fiercely.

"Oh," Felicity sniffles as she leans back, inspecting the gash at his hairline, "Oliver, you're hurt."

"It's nothing, Felicity." Oliver assures and she scowls, not believing him, and he smiles, "I promise."

"Still, once we get out of here I am going to get you an ice-pack for your... _everything_ ," Felicity promises because she hasn't failed to notice the stiff way he is holding his back and the way he has been favoring one knee over the other since she first saw him back at the clock tower. "And then I demand a Big Belly Buster," Oliver's smile widens after he huffs, like she surprised the laugh out of him, and it's _her_ Oliver that is looking at her with such tenderness. "You came for me," Felicity notes, and then she drops her forehead against his chest with a moan because she did _not_ mean it like that and, "My brain thinks of the worst ways to say things."

"He had you and he was going to hurt you, Felicity. There was no choice to make," Oliver says seriously and then he takes deep, even breaths until he feels composed again and then he adds. "Besides, I'm the reason you were in that position in the first place. I never should have done that without talking it over with you first," He sighs, "That's not how a partner should act."

Felicity's heart soars and she says, "You can make it up to me by joining me for Big Belly." She shifts so that she's plastered against his side, his arm thrown over her shoulders, and lets him lean on her as they make their way to the ARGUS vans that have surrounded them. "Besides, it was really smart, the way you out-foxed him. When you told me you loved me, you had me fooled. For a minute there I thought you might have meant it." She clears her throat. "Which is ridiculous, because talk about unthinkable," Felicity snorts. "You and me, I mean—"

Oliver kisses her.

Felicity's mind blanks when Oliver brings them to a stop, tugging her flush against him before he presses his lips against hers, and then she's pushing herself closer, her arms going around his shoulders as she runs her tongue along his bottom lip. He moans and she tightens her hold on him because she's kissing him, the man she has loved for far longer than she's willing to admit, the man she convinced herself she could never have, and it's more than she could have ever imagined. If this is the last kiss they ever share, she is going to make it _memorable._

When they part, Felicity lets out a tremulous breath. "Oliver…" She starts, fighting for air.

" _Felicity_ ," Oliver murmurs, his emotions laid bare when he says,  "We have never been unthinkable."

**THE END.**


End file.
